Nothing caught using stock photos as Phone (3) camera samples in demo units

Nothing just stepped into one of those classic tech marketing blunders that makes you wonder how these things slip through. Demo units of the Nothing Phone (3) were caught displaying stock photos as supposed camera samples from their "community," and well, the internet noticed. This article will discuss everything about Nothing's stock photo controversy, the company's response, and what went wrong.

Nothing Phone (3) Demo Unit Controversy

What Went Wrong

Nothing's in-store demo units came pre-loaded with sample images tagged as "Judge for yourself. Here's what our community has captured with Phone (3)." Problem is, those images weren't captured with the Phone (3) at all — or by any community members.

The photos came from Stills, a stock photo marketplace. We're talking about generic shots like featured in the website still.com, some of which are titled "A Glass Filled With Sparkling Liquid", "A Tall Building With A Person By The Window", and so on.

The evidence

One image got traced back to snapsbyfox on Instagram — a rounded headlight photo taken in 2023 with a Fujifilm X-H2S. That's long before the Phone (3) was even announced, and the photographer has a whole review of that Fujifilm camera. Pretty damning evidence.

• Read out review of Nothing Phone (3) HERE

Nothing's explanation

Akis Evangelidis, Nothing's co-founder, jumped on X (

) to explain what happened. Apparently, these were placeholder images added about 4 months before launch. The plan was to replace them with actual Phone (3) samples before mass production through updated Live Demo Units. But some demo units didn't get the memo. Or the update. Either way, stock photos ended up masquerading as community camera samples in actual stores.

Nothing says they historically used photos from older Nothing phones as placeholders, which avoided this exact problem. But a new team decided to use stock images this time, which Evangelidis called a straight-up mistake. There's an "internal investigation" happening to make sure this doesn't repeat itself. They're also working with promoters to update all the remaining demo units.

What does this mean?

For Nothing, it's an embarrassing but probably recoverable mistake. The Phone (3) will ultimately be judged on its actual camera performance, not demo unit images. But it does raise questions about their internal processes and quality control. For consumers, it's a reminder to take demo unit content with a grain of salt. Companies make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes involve passing off stock photos as real camera samples.

• Meanwhile, check out our review of the Nothing phone 3