Nothing has announced plans to spin out its budget-focused sub-brand, CMF, into a standalone, majority Indian-owned entity headquartered in India.
CMF to be an independent company incorporated in India
Carl Pei, Chief Executive Officer of the London-headquartered firm, outlined the strategic move in an open letter titled “India Is Inevitable,” detailing the company’s objective to establish an indigenous anchor brand capable of competing on global hardware and software standards.
Under the proposed restructuring, CMF will transition from a product line managed from the United Kingdom to an independent company incorporated in India.
Nothing will retain an equity stake and serve as an ongoing technology and brand partner, transferring proprietary elements such as operating system development, supply chain integration, and design frameworks to the local entity.
The R&D Deficit and Historical Market Context
Pei framed the decision within the broader evolution of global electronics manufacturing, comparing India’s trajectory to historical industrial shifts in Japan, South Korea, and China. While India has become the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer—with local assembly accounting for approximately 99% of domestic device sales—the market has historically lacked homegrown original design manufacturing (ODM) and in-house research and development (R&D).
Domestic smartphone brands commanded roughly 46% of the Indian market in 2015, briefly leading global competitors such as Samsung. However, domestic market share declined sharply over subsequent years, dropping to under 1% by 2025 as international competitors introduced higher-specification hardware, proprietary software, and tighter supply chain integration.
| Metric / Phase | 2015 Landscape | Current Landscape (2025–Present) |
| Domestic Brand Share |
~46% of Indian smartphone sales |
Less than 1% market share |
| Manufacturing Base | Primarily imported / nascent assembly | ~99% assembled/manufactured locally |
| Core Product Strategy | White-label licensing and rebadging | Shift toward localized R&D and proprietary OS |
| Annual Market Volume | Expanding consumer base | Over 150 million smartphones annually |
According to Pei, overcoming this historical ceiling requires deep technical ownership across five core operational areas: structural engineering and thermals, dedicated camera imaging pipelines, proprietary operating system development with multi-year software maintenance, antenna retuning and certification, and direct co-engineering partnerships with upstream component suppliers.
Strategic Objectives and Scale Targets
The spin-out targets the domestic Indian market, which absorbs more than 150 million smartphones per year and contains the world’s largest youth demographic. Pei noted that the primary hurdle for India’s consumer electronics ecosystem is no longer manufacturing infrastructure but the absence of domestic brands pushing technical requirements onto local component fabricators.
By establishing an engineering hub locally, CMF aims to scale production toward a benchmark of 100 million devices annually. Reaching this volume transitions a manufacturer from standard component procurement to influencing global supply chain roadmaps, allowing development costs across AI stacks, camera systems, and operating systems to amortize over massive production runs.
CMF, which operated as India’s fastest-growing smartphone sub-brand in 2025, will deploy local teams to expand product development, test proprietary hardware solutions, and localize software features while retaining Nothing’s core industrial design network.
Further details regarding CMF’s domestic leadership appointments and corporate capitalization structure are expected in subsequent corporate disclosures.