Nothing launched the CMF Phone 2 Pro, the company’s second smartphone under its CMF by Nothing sub-brand, last week. The new model gets an improved display, better cameras, and a slightly faster processor, while retaining the large 5000mAh battery.
Even though there are accessories that attaches to the back, this doesn’t have the interchangeable back cover that was first introduced with a CMF Phone 1. Is this a good upgrade to the Phone 1, and is this worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.
| Box Contents |
| Display, Hardware and Design |
| Camera |
| Software, UI and Apps |
| Fingerprint sensor |
| Music player and Multimedia |
| SIM and Connectivity |
| Performance and Benchmarks |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- CMF Phone 2 Pro 8GB + 256GB in Light Green
- USB Type-C to C cable
- 33W fast charger
- Clear protective case
- SIM ejector tool
- User manual
Display, Hardware and Design
Starting with the display, the CMF Phone 2 Pro has a large 6.77-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a pixel resolution of 2392 x 1080 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of about 387 PPI. The display is bright, thanks to 800 nits (typical), 1300 nits (outdoor) and 3000 nits peak brightness, which is enabled when you are watching HDR content.
The phone has a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate display can switch between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. It has 1000 Hz touch sampling rate when gaming. When enabled, it offers a buttery smooth user experience, especially when you are scrolling through the UI and when gaming. It also has HDR 10+ support, which works for YouTube.
Under the display options, there are different options to adjust colours based on your preference. There is also a night light option that lets you reduce the display’s blue light emission, so it doesn’t cause eye strain when you are reading at night. There is Dark mode, similar to other Android phones.
It has an always-on display option, but it doesn’t offer a lot of customization, and is similar to the Pixel. It doesn’t have MEMC or DC Dimming option, but there is 2160Hz PWM Dimming. This has Panda Glass Protection.
The phone has a centre punch-hole that houses a 16-megapixel camera. The silver ring around the front camera that was present in the CMF Phone 1 has been removed, but the black bezel around it has become slightly bigger. Above the display, there is an earpiece on the top edge, but it doesn’t act as a secondary speaker.
The phone has an optical in-display fingerprint scanner. The bottom bezels are minimal compared to the CMF Phone 1, even the sides and the top bezels have reduced.
The phone has a power button and the essential key on the right side. The volume rockers are on the left. The hybrid dual SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the speaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone is present on the top.
Even though there are screws on the back like the CMF Phone 1, this doesn’t have a removable plastic back. Instead, you will need to attach the universal cover accessory on top of it, so that you can add fish eye and macro lenses, and Wallet and stand. There is also the lanyard that was first launched with the Phone 1.
The Light Green color that we have has a glass-like back that mimics a frosted glass texture and is bordered with a metallic frame, says the company. Even the Black has a similar finish. The Orange has a metallic sheen and a dual-tone finish. The phone has become slimmer at 7.8mm and also weighs less at 185g compared to the Phone 1.
Even though this doesn’t have a removable back cover, this still has IP54 ratings for dust and splash resistance, when competitiors offer IP65 ratings or more. This is still better than the IP52 ratings in the predecessor.
Camera
- 50MP main camera with 1/1.57″ GN9 sensor, f/1.88 aperture, EIS
- 8MP ultra-wide camera with GC08A8 sensor, f/2.2 aperture
- 50MP 2x telephoto camera with 1/2.88″ OV50D sensor, f/1.85 aperture, EIS, 20x digital zoom
- 16MP front camera with 1/3″ GC16B3C sensor, f/2.45 aperture, EIS
The camera UI is similar to phones running Nothing OS. There are options for Slo-mo, Video, Photo, Portrait and more option that has time-lapse, pano, and expert mode. The expert mode is pro mode, which lets you adjust white balance, focus, shutter speed (1/8000s to 32 seconds), and ISO (100 to 6400). It doesn’t have RAW option.
Coming to the image quality, daylight shots came out well with good dynamic range and the images are natural-looking. After pixel binning technology, you get 12.5MP output. HDR shots are better with improved dynamic range. The ultra-wide camera is decent. This finally adds a 2x telephoto camera, which is good for portrait shots.
The 16MP front camera is decent in daylight, and you get full 16MP output. Edge detection in portrait is good. Lowlight camera performance is average, and the auto night mode helps to keep the noise low.
Check out the camera samples.
It can record videos at 4k resolution at 30 fps from the rear camera, and the front camera has 1080p 30 fps video recording. It doesn’t have OIS, and EIS is manageable, but it brings down the resolution to 1080p. The front camera video quality takes a hit with bright background since it is completely blown out. Overall, the phone does a decent job when it comes to camera compared to other phones in the price range. Wish it had OIS support for the main camera.
Software, UI and Apps
The CMF Phone 2 Pro runs Android 15 out of the box, with Nothing OS 3.2 on top. It has April 2025 Android security patch. The company has promised 3 Android OS updates and 6 years of security patches, which matches the Nothing Phone 3a series. Apart from the fonts and UI, it gives a stock Android experience without any bloatware.
Nothing OS 3.2 brings visual refinements, AI-powered features, customization and personalization such as new Smart Drawer, private space, as well as performance enhancement when it comes to speed in the UI. There is also Nothing Gallery app with Google Photos’ Gen-AI editing tools built in.
The essential Key below the power button launches Essential Space, an AI-powered hub for note-taking, ideas, and inspirations. You can press the Essential Key to capture and send content to Essential Space, long-press to record a voice note, and double-tap to head straight to all your saved content.
Out of 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, you get 7.4GB of usable RAM, and about 3GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It has up to 8GB of virtual RAM. Out of 256GB, you get about 227GB of free storage. Since this has a hybrid SIM slot, you can use the secondary SIM slot as a microSD slot, and it accepts cards up to 2TB. It has UFS 2.2 storage, which is common in the phones in the price range. Apart from the Google apps, it doesn’t have any third-party apps.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor which immediately unlocks the phone just by keeping your finger on the sensor. You don’t get any animation options. The phone also has face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds, but it is not as secure as fingerprint.
Music Player and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default music player. It doesn’t have Dolby Atmos or any other custom audio features. Audio through the mono speaker is decent, but not loud. Audio through the headphones is good as well. This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and other streaming apps. The is HDR playback on YouTube, but not on Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features such as 5G with support for n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n28, n38, n40, n41, n66, n71, n77, n78
bands, dual 4G VoLTE, 5G VoNR, Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4 + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.4 with LHDC option for supported headphones, GPS + GLONASS, but lacks NFC support. The phone also has carrier aggregation and I even got 5G++ in some places. We did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume is good, even though it is present on the top edge.
The CMF Phone 2’s body SAR is 1.14W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.19/Kg which higher than some mid-range phones, however it well under the limit in India, which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
It is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro SoC in India. It has 4X Arm Cortex-A78 cores at up to 2.5GHz, paired with 4X Arm Cortex-A55 cores. This uses TSMC’s 4nm process. The phone has vapor chamber liquid cooling, but the company doesn’t reveal the size. There is also graphite material on the front and back of the device, the company added.
The new Arm Mali-G615 GPU does a good job in games. The Dimensity 7300 Pro is a minor upgrade over the standard 7300 that promises 10% faster CPU and 5% faster GPU compared to the Dimensity 7300 processor in the CMF Phone 1.
Similar to the Pixel phones, there is Game mode and Game Dashboard. You can play graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact, but can’t expect sustained peak performance is high graphics mode. In BGMI HDR Extreme works. The company has mentioned that 120fps gaming on BGMI will be added in an OTA update this May.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 99.2% which is good. The temperature increased from 37 to 40 degrees, which is not much. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
This shows a good improvement in performance compared to the CMF Phone 1, but the competitors with Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 is slightly better.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 5000mAh (typical) built-in battery, same as the CMF Phone 1. Thanks to the optimization, it lasts for a day even with heavy use on 5G. With minimal use on Wi-Fi, it should last for 2 days. I got 6 hours of screen on time with over a day of use, with mixed use of mostly Wi-Fi and occasional 5G use in 120Hz. This is similar to CMF Phone 1.
With 33W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about 20 minutes and up to 100% in over an hour with the bundled 33W fast charger. It doesn’t have wireless charging, which you can’t expect in the price range.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 18,999, the CMF Phone 2 Pro is a good upgrade to the CMF Phone 1. There are improvements in the display and camera, the performance is slightly better while retaining the smooth performance, and it runs Nothing OS without any bloatware.
You can’t swap the back cover anymore, and you have to rely on the universal cover if you want to use the lens or the wallet and stand. This still lacks stereo speakers, and the Indian version doesn’t have NFC support.
Pricing and availability
The CMF Phone 2 Pro is priced at Rs. 18,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model, and the 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 20,999. With Rs. 1000 bank offer, the effective starting price is Rs. 17,999, and there is additional Rs. 1000 discount on exchange.
The phone is now from Flipkart, Flipkart Minutes, retail partners including Croma and Vijay sales.
Alternatives
There is OPPO K13 with a bigger battery and stereo speakers. If you spend a bit more, the iQOO Z10 is a good alternative with a curved screen, and bigger battery.
Pros
- 120Hz AMOLED display is good
- Smooth performance
- Good cameras, especially the telephoto camera
- Good battery life
Cons
- No stereo speakers
- Only IP54 ratings