Nothing introduced its budget-oriented sub-brand, CMF, in September last year, and just like its parent company, it began by offering accessories. CMF launched with a smartwatch, earbuds and a phone charger, all at rock-bottom prices. Now, it’s getting into the smartphone game with the CMF Phone 1.
Nothing has officially confirmed the existence of the CMF Phone 1 by posting a teaser image on its social media channels. The image shows part of a bright orange device with a dial or scroll wheel in the corner. It’s certainly different from anything else on the market, even in the diverse mid-range phones bracket, and we’re desperate to find out more.
The teaser post reads “Introducing CMF Phone 1. Wonderful by design. Leveraging Nothing’s innovation and meticulous attention to design, it serves as a wonderful entry point to our entire product ecosystem. As others overlook this category, we’re giving it our full attention.”
The CMF sub-brand is all about delivering high-quality design-led products at budget price points, and so we’re expecting this to be a very affordable phone, possibly sharing some DNA with the Nothing Phone (2a). Beyond that, though, most aspects of the phone remain a mystery, including the release date.
The news comes just after Nothing announced that its next main-line phone, the Nothing Phone (3), won’t arrive until 2025. It softened the blow by teasing some of the AI features it’s working on bringing to Nothing OS.
The features are still a long way from being finalized, but there are some cool ideas here. The brand showed off a concept for a new home screen that’s contextually aware and serves up relevant information, rather than just a bunch of apps to launch. It also showed a prototype AI voice companion, a bit like OpenAI’s new voice communication features in ChatGPT.
We have no idea if these features will come to the CMF Phone 1, or what that cool-looking dial does, but we’re looking forward to hearing more. For now, though, check out how the competition shapes up with our guide to the best budget gaming phones.