Nothing Teases Accessible Brand That’s Still Led By ‘Clean Design’
By Mikelle Leow, 09 Aug 2023
Photo 252104349 © Timon Schneider | Dreamstime.com
Giving Apple a reason to shudder in its boots, the Nothing brand has mesmerized tech users with its barebones design philosophy that often sparks comparisons with the Cupertino giant.
Now, the London-based electronics company is expanding its minimal and polished user experience to more people with a new brand called CMF by Nothing, a more “accessible” range that focuses on “clean and timeless design.”
Introducing the upcoming line in the company’s Q2 community update video, Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei shares that CMF—which stands for Color, Material, and Finish—will align with its parent’s “design-led” and “user experience-led” objectives but do so at more affordable price points.
Video screenshot via Nothing
“Different consumers want different things,” he details, describing the new sub-brand as a “range of products that make better design more accessible.”
Expressing the company’s reasons for pivoting to a lower-priced selection, Pei notes: “When you look at the value segment within the technology sector, there just isn’t a lot to get excited about. Good quality seems like a false promise.”
Nothing’s offerings are already rather competitively priced against the industry’s flagship models—the Nothing Phone 2, for instance, costs just US$599—but Pei is convinced “we can make good design even more democratic and impact more people.”
A graphic comparing the goals of Nothing and the new CMF by Nothing. Video screenshot via Nothing
Although it’s still early days for CMF by Nothing, Pei reveals that the offshoot is already working on a budget-friendly smartwatch and earbuds, and that those will roll out later this year.
Further details will be shared over the coming months. “I wanted you to hear it here first,” Pei teased.
Notably, CMF by Nothing will be run by different employees, so the work here won’t cause distractions for the umbrella brand, the CEO reassures users.