'Fake News': Nothing Denies Global Pullback Report, Admits Layoffs Amid Reorganisation

Reports of Nothing preparing to pull out of more than a dozen global markets and cut around 40% of its workforce have made the headlines, even as its co-founder Akis Evangelidis, in a recent interview told IBTimes UK that the US was where he saw the brand's next major growth chapter.

As reported by Digit, Nothing is set to exit 12 or more markets, including Japan and parts of Europe and the Middle East, alongside significant layoffs at its R&D units in China and London. The report ties the pullback to soft sales of the brand's latest devices: the Phone (4b), launched earlier this month, has reportedly sold only around 20,000 units, while the Phone (4a) series has sold roughly 150,000 units since going on sale in late March. Both devices were well off the pace of the two million devices Nothing said it shipped in 2025.

Nothing has publicly disputed the report, calling elements of it inaccurate while confirming job losses tied to an internal reorganisation. It maintains its business in India, and its audio product line remains strong.

'We are not shutting down any markets. Inaccurate reports are being circulated; Phone (4b) sold 29,537 units on Day 1 only, breaking records in its price segment. What we are doing is reorganising our teams to prepare for our next phase of growth. We are introducing dedicated business units - including an AI-native business unit - and consolidating individual countries into regional hubs to operate much more efficiently,' Evangelidis clarified in a post on X.

'US Is a Big Opportunity'

That backdrop makes Evangelidis's comments to IBTimes UK, recorded before the report broke, notable in hindsight. Speaking about where Nothing's next stage of scale would come from, he was unambiguous that the US, not retrenchment, was the plan.

'The US is a big opportunity to be honest. This is why Carl [Pei] has been spending most of his time there in the last few months, alongside a lot of activity on the AI front,' he told IBTimes UK. Nothing recently announced a partnership with Best Buy to support that push.

Evangelidis pointed to the US smartphone market's concentration among two dominant players as the opening he believes Nothing can exploit: 'There's not much excitement or any real challenger brand offering something new, something fresh and we feel Nothing could be that.'

He also framed Nothing's willingness to take risks as a direct counter to the kind of stall that has hit past challengers. Asked whether Nothing could end up like Blackberry or HTC, brands that reached scale and then failed to adapt, he argued agility was the company's advantage over both legacy rivals and its own past. 'We can ship products within months, at a speed the bigger players can't match,' he said, adding that Nothing had 'nothing to lose' compared with incumbents protecting existing revenue streams.

Evangelidis was also candid that Nothing had not disclosed profitability, describing the business as still at 'day one' relative to the size of the industry despite crossing $1 billion in revenue. He pointed to the brand's first flagship store in India, which he said generated $2 million in revenue in its first four months, as evidence of unexploited scale rather than a company nearing its ceiling.

IBTimes UK has approached Nothing for comment on how the reported market exits and layoffs square with the US expansion plans described in the interview, and will update this story with any response.