{"id":236406,"date":"2026-01-16T13:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/236406\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T13:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T13:44:10","slug":"nothing-designs-a-kevlar-wrapped-triple-screen-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/236406\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing designs a Kevlar-wrapped, triple-screen phone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<p>Nothing turned an influencer idea into a full-blown phone concept, complete with a 3D model and real-world cost estimates.<br \/>\nThe design features a unique trifold form with three separate displays, allowing a streamer to view chat, gameplay, and metrics simultaneously.<br \/>\nWhile the bill of materials is ~$1,838, the total R&amp;D to bring it to life is estimated at a staggering $55 million.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine if a phone company really paid attention to its wildest customer ideas. That\u2019s exactly what Nothing did. In a recent video, it took a suggestion from popular streamer IShowSpeed (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/nothing-dream-phone-mrwhosetheboss-3605724\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">like it recently did with YouTuber MrWhoseTheBoss<\/a>) and turned it into a full phone concept, complete with a 3D model and a surprisingly high estimated price.<\/p>\n<p>The video presents the project as a fun challenge rather than a product launch. And while you can\u2019t buy this phone, the engineering behind it offers an interesting glimpse of what highly specialized smartphones could be like in the future.<\/p>\n<p>This phone isn\u2019t like most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/the-best-foldable-phones-3550058\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">foldables<\/a>. It has a special trifold design with three separate screens. Why three? For streamers, having more screen space is essential. You can keep Twitch and YouTube chats open at the same time without hiding your game or video. It\u2019s a productivity powerhouse disguised as a phone.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andauth.co\/AAGooglePreferredSource\" class=\"e_rm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\"><img class=\"e_jg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766572210_733_google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\"\/><img class=\"e_jg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766572211_278_google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The standout feature is its modular design. Modular phones have failed before, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-project-ara-prototypes-3611016\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Project Ara<\/a>, but Nothing\u2019s idea seems practical for this purpose. The third screen can be removed and used on its own or as a high-quality streaming camera. There\u2019s also a magnetic ring on the back for attaching extra lenses.<\/p>\n<p>Durability was engineered for chaos<\/p>\n<p>Durability was the main focus for this project. Folding phones are known for being fragile, often breaking at the hinge or having weak internal screens. Nothing tackled this problem directly. The non-folding screen is made from sapphire crystal, and the frame uses TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) at the corners, which is the same impact-absorbing material found in military gear.<\/p>\n<p>Fireproofing was also important because of Speed\u2019s history. The team considered materials like carbon and glass fiber, but in the end, they chose Kevlar set in a heat-resistant epoxy.<\/p>\n<p>A phone isn\u2019t much use if it can\u2019t stream. Speed wants to stream from every country in the world, which makes staying connected a big challenge. Professionals usually use large bonding backpacks, like LiveU units, to combine several cellular signals.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing\u2019s engineers said it wasn\u2019t possible to fit a full professional bonding setup inside a phone. Their solution is a special USB-C dongle that supports USB 4. This $2 accessory lets the phone send the heavy encoding and network work to outside hardware when needed, so the phone stays fairly slim.<\/p>\n<p>So how much would this Kevlar-wrapped, trifold, modular phone cost? Just the parts \u2014 including two Snapdragon 8 Elite processors, three batteries, and two titanium hinges \u2014 add up to about $1,838.50.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"e_jg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"Nothing dream phone\"  alt=\"Nothing's triple-folding dream phone rear camera\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Nothing-dream-phone.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s only the cost of the parts. When you add in the research and development needed to create this phone, the numbers get much higher. Nothing estimates it would take $50 million to develop the trifold platform, plus another $5 million for the modular camera system.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing previously made similar conceptual phones with other creators \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/nothing-snapdragon-8-elite-phone-mkbhd-3520300\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">like MKBHD\u2019s dream phone<\/a> \u2014 pulling in parts from the Samsung Galaxy lineup and combining them with creative flourishes.<\/p>\n<p>While we likely won\u2019t see a Kevlar trifold on shelves soon, the push for better impact resistance and smarter multitasking tools is very real.<\/p>\n<p>On a more practical note, there is one piece of technology from the video you can actually try. Nothing has teamed up with Subtle Computing to update the Ear (1) headphones. The new software helps pick up your voice and blocks out background noise much better than before.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TL;DR Nothing turned an influencer idea into a full-blown phone concept, complete with a 3D model and real-world&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,16546,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-236406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nothing","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}