{"id":548549,"date":"2026-03-20T07:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/548549\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:44:13","slug":"nothing-ceo-says-apps-are-going-to-disappear-on-your-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/548549\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing CEO says ‘apps are going to disappear’ on your phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Speaking at SXSW, Nothing CEO Carl Pei reiterated his thoughts on the future of the smartphone experience, saying that \u201capps are going to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI, whether you like it or not, is a thing, and it\u2019s playing a huge role in the future of smartphones. And, from the sound of it, Nothing CEO Carl Pei has some big ideas for what\u2019s in store for the future of the smartphone experience.<\/p>\n

Pei\u2019s big pitch? A world where you don\u2019t use apps, and AI agents do everything for you behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

He explains:<\/p>\n

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\u2026in terms of AI in software, I think people should understand apps are going to disappear. If you\u2019re a founder or a startup and your app is where your core value lies, that will be disrupted, whether you like it or not. If you have a very strong brand or very strong distribution, you could delay it by a little bit, but otherwise, I would advise everybody to think differently. <\/p>\n

For instance, if the future is going to be agents doing things for you, and if you have an app, why not open up the API or the MCP so that agents can use it, frictionless? I\u2019ve seen on smartphones that some companies are trying to mimic the human touch on smartphones. So you have an AI agent that\u2019s trying to click like Uber and enter on the keyboard the address you\u2019re going to go to. That\u2019s not the future. The future is not the agent using a human interface. You need to create an interface for the agent to use. I think that\u2019s the more future-proof way of doing it.<\/p>\n

Pei has commented on this before, saying about a year ago<\/a> that he believes \u201cthe entire phone will only have one app\u2014and that will be the OS.\u201d Nothing, as a company, is working towards that idea with a focus on building out its own \u201cAI-native devices\u201d<\/a> and efforts such as Essential Apps,<\/a> which allow users to build homescreen widgets that, in an ideal setting, might be able to replace the use of a full app.<\/p>\n

The \u201csome companies\u201d he refers to here is also clearly talking about Google\u2019s recent launch of screen automation on Gemini, which allows the AI assistant to take over select apps, such as Uber, to prepare rides or orders in the background which you can then finish manually.<\/p>\n

Previously, Pei admitted that a future without apps could take \u201c7-10 years\u201d because \u201cpeople love using apps.\u201d This time around, he expands saying that he thinks the smartphone will still exist at least five years from now, \u201cbut I do think the operating system will change significantly,\u201d and that there will be \u201cnew devices\u201d alongside our phones. <\/p>\n

The interview went on to touch on Pei\u2019s definition of \u201cflagship,\u201d<\/a> which he describes as \u201ca showcase of your most creative ideas.\u201d He further added that Nothing is going to \u201ctake the US seriously\u201d in terms of phones with possible carrier talks, but that the US is Nothing\u2019s biggest audience for audio products.<\/p>\n

The full interview can be viewed below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

More on Nothing:<\/p>\n

Follow Ben:\u00a0Twitter\/X<\/a>,\u00a0Threads<\/a>, Bluesky<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

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