Nothing CEO Carl Pei knows how to drum up excitement for a brand-new phone that no one has ever heard of before, and it makes sense. After all, he is the mastermind behind OnePlus and its early marketing strategy, complete with its invite-based OnePlus 1 sales strategy. Pei has already confirmed that he wants to return to this exclusive invite-only purchase option with the Nothing Phone 1, and now, the company has released a new key detail of its strategy. You’ll actually have to purchase a pass that allows you to buy the Phone 1.

To get your chance to per-order a Phone 1 right after Nothing's launch event on July 12 you first need to sign up on the Nothing website to declare your interest in the phone and join a waitlist. Once you've moved all the way up, you’ll get an invitation to purchase a pre-order pass against a non-refundable £20 deposit.

This will then guarantee that you will be able to pre-order the Phone 1, though you’ll need to head to the shop once more once pre-orders actually go live on July 12 after the official launch event. Only then will you be able to buy the Phone 1. Thankfully, the pre-order deposit will be deducted from the final price, so it’s not like you have to pay anything extra for the chance to get the phone — you’ll just have to sacrifice some of your time to follow all these steps. The pass will also get you an "exclusive reward," so it's not like all your time is wasted.

The strategy was initially spotted by Mukul Sharma (via XDA Developers), when a Phone 1 “pre-order pass” briefly appeared on Indian e-commerce shop Flipkart before it was taken down again. Sharma's screenshots in the tweet below provide a walkthrough through the process.

If you want to get a chance to pre-order the Nothing Phone 1, you should better act fast. The waitlist is filling up quickly, with over 6,000 people on it at the time of writing. Of course, it might just make sense to wait for reviews and more general availability once the hype is over, but this is up to you.

One thing is certain: US customers won’t be able to buy a Phone 1 anytime soon, as Nothing has confirmed that it will not officially launch in the States. There will be offers for those who backed Nothing as part of its funding round, but the Phone 1 will not properly work on most American carriers.

Get the Phone 1

Join the waitlist

UPDATE: 2022/06/24 05:51 EST BY MANUEL VONAU

Nothing pre-order pass is live

Nothing has just officially launched its pre-order pass and its waitlist. We've updated this article with details on this. It previously covered the Flipkart leak.