Nothing Used Stock Photos to Advertise the Phone 3’s Camera
Nothing used a set of stock photos to advertise the Phone 3’s camera capabilities. The images appeared on in-store demonstration units under the title “WithNothing” along with the line, “Judge for yourself. Here’s what our community has captured with Phone (3).”
Nothing used five stock photos likely licensed from Stills in screen recordings and images from a demo unit in a JB Hi-Fi eleoctronics store in New Zealand, which were shared with PetaPixel.
The pre-installed app that showcases the Phone 3’s hardware and performance shows an image of a stairwell, a portrait, a car’s headlight, a well-lit glass, and a person standing in a tall building. However, all of these photos are licensed stock images, not unique photos taken with the Phone 3.
For example, one of the images was very likely taken in July 2024 by photographer Abdullahi Santuraki, over a year before the Phone 3 was announced. Several other photos on his public VSCO account show the same location, model, and clothing.
Another of the images used, a photo of a stairwell, was confirmed to have been taken with a Sony a7C.
“I never used a Nothing Phone before. That photo was shot with Sony A7C according to EXIF,” photographer Henry Han tells PetaPixel in an email.
The other three photos are all available to license on Stills, too: the headlight, the glass, and the building with the person in it.
As is editorial procedure, PetaPixel reached out its contact at Nothing on Monday, August 25, to ask for official comment. When no response was received within 24 hours, PetaPixel again attempted to get official comment through Nothing’s broader general PR line. The latter never responded, while the former only responded this morning with a link to X, formerly Twitter, where Nothing’s co-founder Akis Evangelidis published an apology.
“Re the Phone (3) live demo units (LDU) in some stores using stock imagery — let me explain. An initial version of the LDU needs to be submitted with placeholders around 4 months before launch, to be implemented and tested as we ramp up towards mass production. Once we enter mass production, those placeholder images are replaced with photo samples through a new version of the LDU, along with final product renders and videos. In this case, it was brought to our attention that some live demo units stock imagery were not updated. We are actively rectifying this and working with our promoters to ensure all LDUs reflect the latest version,” Evangelidis writes.
“We are also investigating internally to make sure such an issue doesn’t happen again. This was an unfortunate oversight, and I want to emphasise that there was no ill intent. At Nothing, we’ve consistently championed transparency by showcasing photos from our community — real users in real-life scenarios — rather than relying on paid professional photographers. This approach ensures people see the product in genuine use cases. Phone (3) is no exception: since launch, our website and partner platforms have featured community shots, which is especially important for those unable to test the device online.”
X user Sumukh Rao suggested to Evangelidis that in the future, Nothing not use stock photos, but license photos taken by other Nothing phones.
“Use photos shot on older Nothing phones as placeholders on the LDUs. That way, even if someone figures out they’re not shot from the same phone, it’s at least another Nothing phone,” they write.
“100% and used to do exactly that,” Evangelidis responds. “New teams/people were involved, and the process broke down; this won’t happen again. There is no clear reason for stock imagery to be used in the first place. As you can see from the comments section, photos captured with Phone (3) are far more striking than those stock images.”
Image credits: Header photo by Ted Kritsonis for PetaPixel.
