Nothing Ear 1 earbuds to arrive this summer with surprise launch partner

Nothing, the company launched by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has announced that its first product, the Nothing Ear 1, will be available to buy from Selfridges when it’s finally released.

The earbuds will sell via the Smartech store inside Selfridges London and via the Selfridges.com website when it launches. Notably, Nothing doesn’t use the word “exclusive” in the blog post announcing the partnership, so it’s not clear if this will be the only place to buy the product. 

But it’s a pretty big statement of intent all the same: Selfridges, if you’re not familiar, is a pretty high-end option, especially the London flagship store which is cited in the blog post.

“Selfridges is an iconic shopping destination for us to launch Ear 1,” Pei is quoted as saying. “Thanks to Smartech, the partnership will provide us with the platform to showcase Nothing’s uniquely designed tech to consumers who value quality and new ideas.”

We reached out to Nothing to ask how close the Ear 1 will be to the Concept 1 true wireless earphones pictured above, and were told that while you can expect to see similarities such as the use of natural, familiar shapes, and a lack of unnecessary branding, the end product will look different.

We know that Nothing is aiming to create a striking new look with its products and that the see-through design is here to stay. As the company explains, the Nothing Ear 1 will feature “the raw beauty of technology with a distinctive transparent finish” when it arrives this summer.

‘Summer’ is as close as we’ve got to a release date at the time of writing, which is a fairly sizable window that stretches all the way from today to the end of September. But with the launch partner all lined up, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the Nothing Ear 1 was ready to buy from Selfridges sooner rather than later.