CMF won’t be launching a new smartphone in 2026, with Nothing’s budget-focused brand blaming rising memory costs for the decision.
The news comes directly from Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis, who confirmed on X that CMF had previously been working on a successor to the Phone Pro 2. However, the company ultimately decided against releasing a new handset this year, because it couldn’t deliver what it considered a meaningful upgrade without pushing prices beyond what customers expect from the brand.
“A lot of you have been asking when the next CMF phone is coming,” Evangelidis wrote, adding that current component costs mean CMF can’t build a phone that “feels like a genuine step forward at a price that makes sense for CMF.”
The biggest issue appears to be memory pricing. RAM costs have risen sharply over the past year as manufacturers prioritise supply for the booming AI industry. Major tech firms including Apple and Samsung have already warned that higher memory costs could affect future device pricing. Meanwhile, market analysts at IDC recently predicted that PC shipments could fall as rising component costs push prices upwards.
For CMF, whose appeal largely centres on offering strong value for money, absorbing those increases may have been difficult. Otherwise, they would have had to compromise elsewhere.
The decision means the CMF Phone Pro 2, launched in April 2025, will remain the brand’s latest smartphone for the foreseeable future. At launch, Nothing described it as the slimmest and lightest handset CMF had produced, with up to two days of battery life on a single charge.
While the lack of a new phone may disappoint fans, Evangelidis hinted that CMF isn’t slowing down altogether. He confirmed that the company still plans to release several new products before the end of the year. Additionally, he mentioned what he described as “entirely new categories”, though we don’t know what those products will actually be.
For now, at least, the next CMF phone will have to wait until memory prices become a little easier to swallow.
