Nothing starts a second brand called CMF

A cheaper line under a separate name

On 3 August 2023, in a Community Update video for the second quarter, Carl Pei announces that Nothing is starting a sub-brand called CMF by Nothing.^{1, 2} The name stands for colour, material and finish, the industrial design discipline that decides how a product looks and feels on its surface.² CMF is to sell devices for less than Nothing does, with "timeless designs" at lower prices, and its first products, a smartwatch and a pair of earbuds, are due later in the year.¹

Pei explains the gap he sees: the budget segment, he says, "isn't a lot to get excited about".³ Nothing itself remains focused on premium products with the latest technology, while CMF is run by a separate team inside the company, so that it does not distract from the main line.¹ Three years after its founding, the company is splitting its promise in two.

Brand architecture in practice

The move is a decision about brand architecture, the way a company organises its portfolio of brands. Nothing chooses an endorsed structure: CMF carries its own name and its own look, while the words "by Nothing" lend it the parent's credibility. The endorsement gives a newcomer at the lower end of the market a reputation it has not yet earned on its own, and it spares the parent from lowering its prices or diluting its claims.

The name comes from the design studio rather than from marketing. Colour, material and finish is a working term among industrial designers, and using it as a brand name tells customers where the company sees the value of a cheaper product: less in the technology than in how carefully it is made and finished. MobileSyrup sums up the promise as "clean design, trusted quality, and affordable pricing".²

A different look under the same roof

When the first products arrive on 26 September 2023, the separation is visible. The CMF Buds Pro cost 49 pounds, the Watch Pro 69 pounds with an orange strap option, and the Power 65W GaN charger 39 pounds, in orange or dark grey.⁴ Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis says: "With CMF, we aim to democratise great design in a market segment that has often been overlooked."^{5, 4}

Orange recurs as an accent, while transparency, the trait most closely tied to Nothing, stays with the parent. Tech Advisor puts it plainly: transparency "is a portfolio-defining attribute of Nothing's wares that simply isn't present on CMF products".⁶ The two brands share an attitude to design but not a visual signature, so a CMF product does not read as a reduced Nothing product, and Nothing's own range keeps its distinctiveness.

The CMF Phone 1, launched on 8 July 2024 at 179 pounds, takes the name literally. Its rear panel is held by exposed screws and can be swapped for others in black, orange, light green or blue, and a corner screw holds a lanyard, a kickstand or a card wallet.⁷ Colour, material and finish become something the owner can change.

Wonderful By Design

For the phone, Nothing commissions the agency Kulfi Collective to create CMF's first integrated campaign, "Wonderful By Design", with two films and more than 500 social and digital assets.⁸ The global film presents CMF labs as places where art and science meet. In the Indian film, the actor Rashmika Mandanna finds a CMF vending machine in a London subway station that takes her into the lab.⁸ Both films build CMF's identity on the heritage of its parent and stress its European origins and design-led approach.⁸

The campaign shows the endorsement at work. In India, the connection to a London design company is part of what CMF offers, and the story is told through a local star who travels to London. Pranay Rao, head of marketing at Nothing India, says: "The launch of CMF marks a significant milestone for Nothing in India."⁸

From sub-brand to company

The architecture changes two years later. On 25 September 2025, Nothing announces that CMF becomes an independent subsidiary headquartered in India, run as a joint venture with the Indian manufacturer Optiemus Infracom, and that it drops "by Nothing" from its name.⁹ The partners plan to invest more than 100 million dollars and create more than 1,800 jobs over three years, and the new company calls itself "A brand built in India, for the world".⁹ Pei says: "India will play a key role in shaping the future of the global smartphone industry."⁹

India has by then become CMF's largest market, and CMF India Private Limited is registered in December 2025 with headquarters in the Delhi region.¹⁰ In the fourth quarter of 2025, CMF is the fastest-growing smartphone sub-brand in India, according to Counterpoint figures reported by Android Authority.¹¹ The endorsement that launched it has served its purpose. Having built recognition under the parent's name, CMF now carries its own, and Nothing keeps a clear line between the brand that explores and the brand that scales.