Carl Pei Confirms CMF Will Become an Independent Indian Smartphone Brand

Nothing’s budget-focused sub-brand, CMF, is officially severing its direct corporate umbrella to become an independent, majority Indian-owned entity. In a detailed statement on X, Nothing CEO Carl Pei confirmed that CMF will operate as a standalone company based in India, complete with localized research and development, while Nothing transitions to a partner and minority shareholder role.

This structural pivot builds upon Nothing’s September 2025 announcement of a CMF spin-off. At that time, the company committed over $100 million to a joint venture with contract manufacturer Optiemus, aiming to localize production and generate roughly 1,800 jobs over three years. Following the formal registration of CMF India Private Limited in December 2025, Pei has now clarified the ownership structure: Indian shareholders will hold the controlling stake in the new venture.

Engineering Autonomy and Market Strategy

Launched in September 2023, CMF quickly found its footing in India’s highly competitive sub-$200 smartphone market. According to IDC data, devices in the $100 to $200 bracket accounted for more than 42% of India’s total smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2025, providing a massive domestic runway for the newly independent brand.

To compete, Pei insists CMF must own its engineering rather than relying on white-label manufacturing. The independent CMF will inherit Nothing OS, the brand’s core engineering team, and established supplier relationships. Moving forward, the company will handle its own structural design, thermal management, antenna tuning, camera software, and operating system updates.

Pei highlighted a cautionary tale from the Indian market to justify this in-house approach. In 2015, domestic brands controlled nearly half of India’s smartphone sales by reusing catalog designs from overseas manufacturers. When foreign competitors introduced superior bespoke engineering, domestic market share plummeted to under 1% by 2025. With 99% of smartphones sold in India now manufactured locally, Pei views localized engineering as the critical next phase.

The ultimate objective for CMF is scale. Pei is targeting 100 million annual smartphone shipments, a volume threshold that would allow the company to dictate custom component designs to suppliers rather than relying on off-the-shelf parts.

Unanswered Questions and 2026 Roadmap

Despite the strategic clarity, several operational details remain undisclosed. Pei has not identified the majority Indian shareholders, the precise equity split, or a finalized timeline for the corporate transition. Crucially for existing users, it remains unclear how Nothing OS software support and updates will be managed during the handover.

On the product front, CMF’s immediate hardware pipeline is paused. In June, Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis confirmed that CMF will not release a new smartphone in 2026, citing escalating memory costs that make a successor to the CMF Phone 2 Pro financially unviable at the brand’s target price point. While the CMF Phone 2 Pro will remain the company’s flagship handset for the year, Evangelidis noted that the brand still plans to expand into entirely new product categories before the end of 2026.