Nothing CEO Carl Pei says AI agents will replace apps as smartphones evolve beyond 20-year-old model

Nothing CEO Predicts Smartphone Apps Will Disappear

Carl Pei, co-founder and CEO of Nothing, delivered a stark warning to app developers and startup founders at the SXSW conference in Austin: smartphone apps will disappear as AI agents take over. Speaking at South by Southwest, Pei argued that the current app-centric model has remained largely unchanged for two decades and is ripe for disruption1

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. "If you're a founder or a startup and your app is where the core value lies, that will be disrupted whether you like it or not," he stated, urging companies to rethink their strategies before it's too late2

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The Nothing CEO's vision centers on AI-native devices that understand user intentions and execute tasks autonomously, eliminating the need to navigate multiple applications. This prediction builds on the company's successful $200 million Series C funding round last year, which was pitched around creating smartphones using AI and personalization technology accurate enough that users wouldn't need to double-check outputs1

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The Problem with Today's Smartphone Operating Systems

Pei's critique of modern smartphones is pointed. He compared today's devices to Palm Pilots and PDAs, noting that despite technological advances, the user interface has barely evolved. "You have lock screens, home screens, apps. You browse different apps. Each app is like a full-screen thing. There's some kind of app store that allows you to download more apps. So it hasn't really changed for like, 20 years," he explained1

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The consumer electronics executive illustrated his frustration with a simple example: grabbing coffee with a friend requires juggling four different apps—messaging, maps, Uber, and calendar. "It's very hard to get things done on a phone," Pei said, describing the experience as administrative work rather than seamless interaction3

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. His proposed solution would allow users to simply state their intention, with AI agents handling all the coordination behind the scenes5

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How AI Agents Will Replace Traditional Apps

Carl Pei outlined a multi-stage evolution toward an app-less mobile landscape. The initial phase involves AI executing commands like booking flights or hotels—functionality he dismissed as "super boring" and already being tested by companies today1

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. The next stage becomes more compelling as AI agents learn to understand user intentions long-term, providing proactive nudges toward goals like improved health.

The most powerful phase arrives when systems know users well enough to surface suggestions they haven't even considered. "When the system knows us so well, it will come up with things that we don't even knew we wanted," Pei explained, comparing this to ChatGPT's memory feature3

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. He believes voice input will become the primary interaction method, though screens will remain the main output. "The interface that I really believe in is voice-in, because speaking is the easiest way to input something. And not audio out, it's still a screen out," he stated3

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Creating Interfaces for AI Agents, Not Humans

A critical distinction in Pei's vision involves how AI agents interact with services. He criticized approaches like Google Gemini's screen automation, which mimics human touch by tapping through existing app interfaces2

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. "That's not the future. The future is not the agent using a human interface. You need to create an interface for the agent to use. I think that's the more future-proof way of doing it," he argued1

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Pei advised app developers to open up their API or adopt connector protocols like Anthropic's MCP to enable frictionless agent access5

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. Nothing is already moving toward this vision with its Essential AI platform, which allows users to create lightweight apps and homescreen widgets through plain language that could eventually replace full applications.

Timeline and What's Next for the Future of Your Phone

While Pei has previously suggested this transformation could take seven to ten years because "people love using apps," he emphasized that the direction is clear and startup founders should prepare now rather than wait4

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. He predicts smartphones will still exist in at least five years, "but I do think the operating system will change significantly," with new devices emerging alongside traditional phones2

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Nothing's own operating system currently supports user-built mini apps, acknowledging that apps won't vanish immediately1

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. However, Pei's message to the industry is unambiguous: companies with strong brands or distribution might delay disruption slightly, but the shift toward autonomous tasks handled by AI agents is inevitable2

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. As previous attempts by companies like Rabbit, Humane, and Apple have shown, creating a truly helpful AI assistant remains challenging, making Nothing's ambitious timeline one to watch closely3

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