Why Nothing's CMF Phone Pro 2 Is A New Departure

Forbes

28-04-2025

Nothing, the London-based phone company, is on a roll. It has already launched two phones this year, with the prospect of a flagship handset still to come. Now, the company's budget sub-brand, CMF has released a new and highly affordable phone: CMF Phone Pro 2, but it's very different from the phone it succeeds.
CMF Phone 2 Pro has just been unveiled.
That was the CMF Phone 1 —though please note there's no CMF Phone 2, only this Pro version, which is the first element of departure for the company. The Pro element likely comes down to the three rear cameras, which are a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto and 8-megapixel ultra-wide. New software for the cameras promises advanced algorithms and with intelligent processing to improve photos and video.
Where last year's CMF Phone 1 had removable backplates for customization, that's not the case here — seemingly removing a unique element for the brand. However, there are still accessories, such as a card wallet and fish-eye lens kit, attached using a supplied special screwdriver.
The new phone is slimmer, 7.8mm thick, excluding the camera bump, and weighs 185g. There's water-resistance, but IP54 means you can't dunk it in water. The battery life should be strong as there's a 5,000mAh battery. The 6.77-inch OLED display is 50% brighter at peak brightness than last year's model, and the previous absence of NFC has been remedied, so you can use it for contactless payments.
Other differences of note: the fingerprint sensor sits in the display, there's a decent-but-not-exceptional MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G chipset on board. The colors are white, black, light green and CMF's signature orange. The rear of the phone is plastic (Nothing describes it as 'glass-like', which may be one of the ways the phone reveals its bargain pricing.
It comes with three years of Android updates and six years of security patches and is powered by Nothing OS 3.0, based on Android 15.
The U.S. price is $279, with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, available via Nothing's Beta Program. In the U.K., there's additionally a model with less storage, 128GB, which sells for £219, where the 256GB model costs £249.
The addition of Pro features is a big departure for CMF. Where we must hope things haven't changed is value for money, a linchpin of the brand until now. Here I think there's reason to believe there's continuity and if it lives up to the newly released specs, it could be a popular budget phone.
Pre-orders from nothing.tech are now open, with open sales beginning on May 6.
Nothing also released three versions of earbuds, analyzed by Forbes contributor Mark Sparrow, here.