Customizability Like No Other: Nothing CMF Phone 1 Revealed

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We have our first look at the Nothing CMF Phone 1 and it’s got everyone fascinated to know more.

“Color, Material, and Finish” that is what the mysterious CMF industrial design tag stands for, and it is a good time to learn it now that some more details about the Nothing CMF Phone 1 have been revealed. Since its formation in 2020, Nothing has been on the fast track to becoming a people-first brand, one that explores slightly outlandish design details that set it apart from competitors. Just like the company’s other products, the Nothing CMF Phone 1’s design represents minimalism and simplicity without being too basic to hold its own against the bigger brands on the market. 

Details of the Nothing CMF Phone 1 have been revealed one day at a time on the company’s X/Twitter page, but a few mysterious features still demand a more in-depth showcase. The CMF Phone 1 launch date may be the same as its “reveal” date, which is scheduled for July 8, 2024, at 10:00 BST (5 AM ET or 2 AM PST).

Image: The Nothing CMF Phone 1

Design Details of the Nothing CMF Phone 1 Revealed

Unlike other brands, Nothing doesn’t rely on rumors to promote curiosity about its products in the days leading up to its launch. The company has taken to X/Twitter to drop bits and pieces of the device’s specifications on its own to keep its audience coming back for updates. 

Just like the wonderfully designed Nothing Phone 2 and (2a), which were its most recent smartphone releases, the Nothing CMF Phone 1 design is unique in its own right. While the phone doesn’t feature the customizable glyph details on the rear casing as we’d seen with the original Nothing series, the Nothing CMF Phone 1 design has prioritized functionality without compromising on style.

The Nothing brand of devices has a solid reputation for being more affordable than the majority of its competitors, and yet it was revealed that the company would use this launch to make better designs more “accessible.” Despite the affordable identity, Nothing doesn’t launch skeletal phones with zero features. Instead, it takes on an innovative approach to its design.

Nothing CMF Phone 1 Design Details Center on Functional Style

With the Nothing CMF Phone 1, the company revealed its choice to stick to a bold color palette, skipping the iconic white color to revive the black and orange colors now firmly associated with the brand. The back panels of the device are also available in blue and light green for those who want to try something different. 

The vertically aligned dual-camera cutout is nothing fancy, but what is appealing about the device is its compatibility with other accessories. Without explaining the Nothing CMF Phone 1’s details, the teaser images showed a dial integration on the back of the device for a lanyard attachment, and another image showed that the device could alternatively accommodate a kickstand for a convenient viewing setup on the go.

The CMF Phone 1 design also showed mini screws on the back of the device and if you thought this was just an aesthetic choice, you would be wrong. The device is expected to arrive packaged with a mini screwdriver, which means there could be further accessory integration. From the images, it appears the rear cover is intended to be swappable, but nothing has been revealed about the kind of attachments it is planning to support. One of the images showed a puffed-up pack at the back, one that could be anything from an extended battery piece to a storage attachment for your Pokemon cards. 

Nothing Phones have never been designed to support our habits of slapping a protective case onto everything and this one looks like it’s going to be particularly dismissive of any attempts to cover it up. Whether these attachments will be free or whether they’ll require multiple purchases for the full experience is also up in the air. The exact capability of the CMF Phone 1’s design will be revealed on July 8, so we can have our own speculations to guide us until then. 

CMF Phone 1 Specifications—What’s Cooking On the Inside?

The Nothing CMF Phone 1 details have kept us sufficiently distracted with the external appeal of the device, but what about its internal features? Some of the CMF Phone 1 specifications have been announced. Right from Day 1 of unveiling the CMF Phone 1, we’ve heard that the device has a 6.67-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 2000 nits peak brightness. The device also has HDR10+ support so you’ll enjoy a vivid visual experience when you’re not distracted by the rear setup of the device.

Nothing’s CMF Phone 1 also revealed that it will feature 16GB RAM and will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor—different from the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chip on the Nothing Phone (2a). Typical sensors like navigation support with a digital compass and motion sensors for movement will also be available, but the application of these sensors could still be noteworthy. We aren’t fans of Fingerprint On Display (FOD) sensors because they can be quite glitchy with daily use, but that is what the Nothing CMF Phone 1 will come equipped with.

Nothing CMF Phone 1 Revealed Details About the Battery

Battery power is an essential consideration on any smartphone—the longer it lasts the better. On Day 5, Nothing boasted about its 5,000 mAh battery that can support “2 days of use or 22 hours of non-stop YouTube!” It is a tall claim and we’d have to see the device in action to give this detail some credence but we like the direction the device is headed, that’s for sure.

Incomplete Camera Specs of the CMF Phone 1

The Nothing CMF Phone 1 has a 50 MP Sony camera with an f/1.8 lens but there is no sign of Optical Image Stabilization, which is what all the fans want to see. It does claim to have advanced algorithms like Ultra XDR so you should be able to capture images with better detail, powered by high-intensity light captures. There are no specification lists available for the second camera. 

The layout of the camera module looks similar to the Nothing Phone 2 although it does have a more outwardly protruding case. We don’t think Nothing has planned on giving the device a better camera than its predecessors, so photography enthusiasts will have to make do. 

Taking into account everything the Nothing CMF Phone 1 has revealed, one thing that’s clear is that no brand is experimenting with a smartphone like Nothing. Apple might play around with titanium and aluminum, Google may obsess over AI, and Motorola may be onto something with its flip phones, but Nothing’s focus on customizability and design gives customers something new to look forward to each time. 

Estimates by TechRadar suggest the device could be priced as low as $215 USD but we’ll know more during the Community Update on July 8. Along with the final Nothing CMF Phone 1 reveal, the company will also launch its CMF Buds Pro 2 and Watch Pro 2, so if you’re not in the market for a smartphone, perhaps they could impress you with their accessories instead. Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for the community edition of the Nothing Phone (2a) to make an appearance.

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