Danny Weber
Nothing says there will be no new CMF smartphone in 2026, as soaring memory costs would push its budget formula into a much higher price tier.
Nothing has officially confirmed that it will not release a new CMF smartphone in 2026. Company co-founder Akis Evangelidis said so on June 19 in X, effectively ending hopes for the CMF Phone 3 Pro, which had already appeared in leaks with an expected launch in the third quarter of 2026. The reason was not design, the processor or development delays, but a sharp rise in RAM prices.
According to Evangelidis, if CMF tried to launch the CMF Phone 2 Pro again today with the same Dimensity 7300 Pro, 120 Hz AMOLED display and 8/128 GB configuration, it would have to sell in India for about $348—$406. For comparison, 14 months ago the phone started at 18,999 rupees, or roughly $220. In Europe, the €249 model that MKBHD named the best budget phone of the year could easily become a device priced above €350 under current conditions, which is a very different segment.
For CMF, that kind of price breaks the whole idea of the brand, which was built around an aggressive mix of specs and value. Releasing almost the same hardware at 50% more would mean competing not as a budget CMF phone, but as an oddly positioned Nothing device. The company’s leadership appears to have decided not to sacrifice the sub-brand’s reputation just to refresh the lineup on paper.
The CMF story has become one of the clearest signs of how hard the DRAM crunch has hit budget smartphones. Carl Pei separately said that while developing the Nothing Phone 4a, memory costs doubled between the decision to launch and release, then doubled again after the device was already out. According to Nothing’s management, RAM has now become the most expensive component in a smartphone — pricier than the processor and the display, upending the usual economics of the mobile market.
Still, the CMF Phone 3 Pro project may not disappear completely. According to Android Authority, some of the work may have moved into Nothing’s main lineup, and the device codenamed Blastoise, expected as the Nothing Phone 4, could turn out to be a renamed version of the canceled CMF model. That would give the company more room in the price segment starting at 25,000 rupees, or about $290, without damaging CMF’s image as a brand for affordable devices. Evangelidis also confirmed that CMF will launch new products and even new categories in 2026, but a smartphone will not be among them.
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