Nothing Phone (1) teardown
You may have already seen that the Nothing Phone (1) has an assembly of aesthetic components on the back. Along with the hundreds of LEDs arranged in a Glyph grid, which also serve a meaningful purpose, there are several pieces of plastic as well. On removing the back panel, Zack found that most of those plastic pieces are simply glued in place with no screws holding them down. They come off fairly easily. Nothing has used screws to hold down some of the larger plastic components. But the smaller pieces rely solely on adhesive to stay in place, including the diffusing layer above the LED strands. These are precisely cut stickers that hide the yellowish bulbs to give the phone a consistent look. Zack is pointing out the lack of screws holding down some of these components because adhesives tend to loosen and give up over time. As such, there’s a possibility that the diffusing layer would peel off a few years down the line. However, the chances of that happening are pretty low as there would be no external force acting on them. The rear panel of the phone also gives added protection. Apart from these aesthetic elements on top, the Nothing Phone (1) is just another Android smartphone. It hides the wireless charging coil under a giant layer of plastic. The rest of the stuff is fairly normal. The battery comes with magic pull taps, so it’s easy to replace in case of damage. If you watched the phone’s durability test, you might remember that it made a weird sound when bending from the from, though nothing broke. Turns out it was the battery adhesive that was flexing as the device lost its natural shape under force. The Nothing Phone (1) officially boasts an IP53 rating for dust and water resistance, which is below the standard. But the company has put enough measures in place to keep water out. You can watch the full Nothing Phone (1) teardown video below.
