The hype machine is in full flow over at Nothing, with confirmation that the Nothing phone (1) will be announced at an event called Return to Instinct.

The event will be held on 12 July 2022, so there's still some time to go before the big announcement and you can be sure that over the next month there will be leaks, teases - and probably some "exclusive" interviews with select titles where Carl Pei reveals everything.

The hyping of the Nothing phone (1) is following a similar trajectory to OnePlus devices of old, which very much seems to be Pei's playbook. Having met with media at Mobile World Congress, "leaks" of the phone appeared before confirmation that Nothing was indeed planning to launch a phone.

At the time of writing not much is known - there's been official confirmation that it will be Qualcomm powered, we know it will use recycled aluminium for the frame, there will be wireless charging and some translucency to the case and it will run Android - but that's about it.

The danger here is that the hype machine creates an expectation that can't be fulfilled: Nothing is talking about changing our approach to technology and the name of the event - Return to Instinct - plays into that theme. 

What we expect we'll get is a mid-range phone targeting affordability, with optimised software to make interoperability with other devices smoother. We're sure that's an experience that users will embrace, while the big play for Nothing is to build an ecosystem that offers an experience to rival Apple.

The company promises that everything will be revealed at the 12 July event. It's also going to be a physical event (with a livestream) so we plan to be there to bring you all the details, live, as they happen.