Tech brand Nothing has been caught passing off stock images from professional photographers as samples taken by the Phone 3. Five sample images that Nothing claimed were captured by the device were actually licensed photos taken with other cameras.
The photographer behind one of the images has anonymously confirmed to The Verge that it wasn’t taken using the Phone 3, and that Nothing had purchased the image license via the Stills stock photo marketplace. The Verge has seen the EXIF file for the anonymous photographer’s image, and can confirm it wasn’t captured using the Phone 3. According to the EXIF data, it was taken in 2023, long before the Phone 3 was released this year.
Roman Fox, another photographer who captured the car headlight, also confirmed to Android Authority that Nothing had paid for his image, which was taken in 2023 using a Fujifilm XH2s camera. Nothing’s demo samples were accompanied by the message: “Judge for yourself. Here’s what our community has captured with Phone 3.”
In a statement posted on X, Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis says the stock images featured on live demo units were placeholders that should have been updated. Nothing is “actively rectifying” the situation, according to Evangelidis, describing the fakery as “an unfortunate oversight” with “no ill intent.”
“An initial version of the LDU [live demo unit] needs to be submitted with placeholders around 4 months before launch, to be implemented and tested as we ramp up towards mass production,” said Evangelidis. “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.”
Licensing photos that were never intended for public use is a little perplexing, especially given that Nothing’s previous process involved using photos that were actually shot using the company’s older phones. This isn’t the first time that a phone company has been caught using fake photography examples, but you would think that Nothing would learn from those mistakes.