Nothing is spinning off its budget brand CMF into an independent company headquartered in India. CEO Carl Pei announced the restructuring, noting that the new entity will be primarily owned by Indian stakeholders, while Nothing will retain a stake and continue to serve as a technology and brand partner.
The new company will take over key operations, including software development, supply chain management, and design. This shift aims to move beyond simple product selection toward full-scale research and development, allowing the brand to compete globally by controlling hardware and software standards.
CMF will focus on the Indian market, which sees 150 million smartphones sold annually. The company plans to establish a local engineering hub to scale production to 100 million devices per year, aiming to influence global supply chains and reduce costs through direct development.
In 2025, the market share of domestic smartphone brands in India dropped to 1 percent, down from 46 percent in 2015. CMF, which was the fastest-growing smartphone brand in India last year, intends to use local teams to localize software and test hardware while maintaining the Nothing design language.
