Smartphone maker Nothing to spin off its inexpensive CMF model

{Hardware} startup Nothing stated Thursday that it plans to make its inexpensive machine model, CMF, into an unbiased subsidiary with India serving as its headquarters for manufacturing and R&D.

The corporate first launched CMF in 2023 with a pair of earbuds and a smartwatch. Since then, it has launched smartphones beneath the model as properly.

Nothing stated that it’s partnering with Indian ODM (Authentic Design Producer) Optiemus to create a three way partnership for manufacturing. Whereas the startup didn’t reveal the possession construction of this enterprise, it stated that it goals to take a position greater than $100 million over the following three years, whereas creating over 1,800 jobs.

The London-based startup, following its $200 million funding spherical led by Tiger World, didn’t say how a lot cash from this spherical will go into organising this new enterprise.

Nothing’s resolution to decide on India as CMF’s operational headquarters is smart for a couple of causes. CMF’s smartphones have been priced beneath $200, and that’s the dominant class in India, with over 42% of telephones shipped in Q2 2025 being within the $100-$200 worth vary, in response to IDC.

India has additionally been Nothing’s strongest market with over 2% market share in smartphones. IDC informed TechCrunch by way of e mail that Nothing was the fastest-growing model within the nation in Q2 2025, with 85% progress in shipments 12 months over 12 months.

“India will play a key function in shaping the way forward for the worldwide smartphone trade. CMF has been well-received by the market since we launched it two years in the past. With our end-to-end capabilities, we’re uniquely positioned to now construct it into India’s first actually international smartphone model. Our three way partnership with Optiemus is a key milestone towards making that imaginative and prescient a actuality,” Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei stated in a press release.

The corporate’s transfer comes after it poached Himanshu Tondon from Xiaomi’s spin-off model POCO final month to be VP of Enterprise for CMF.

Model spin-offs have been more and more widespread within the final decade, particularly for manufacturers based mostly in China. Examples embrace Xiaomi spinning off POCO, Huawei promoting off Honor, and Oppo making Realme a separate firm.

“This transfer is smart since CMF has discovered a market within the price range segments in each telephones and wearables markets in India,” Navkendar Singh, affiliate VP at IDC India, informed TechCrunch.

“One other driver may very well be that Nothing desires to keep away from having a price for cash rub off on itself coming from CMF, particularly as Nothing appears to be targeted on the mid-premium finish of the market [$400-$600].”