Nothing's next budget phone is dead. Not killed by bad design or weak sales. Killed by RAM prices.
Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis broke the news himself on X: the follow-up to the CMF Phone 2 Pro isn't coming this year. The reason? Memory prices have gone haywire.
We were working on a successor but with memory prices where they are right now, we can’t bring it to market at the price point that made the CMF Phone 2 Pro successful.
Translation: It doesn't make financial sense. And Nothing isn't alone.
The RAMageddon That Keeps On Giving
This isn't some isolated hiccup. The entire industry is getting squeezed. DRAM and NAND prices have been climbing since late 2024, driven by a perfect storm of AI demand gobbling up HBM memory, smartphone makers hoarding chips, and manufacturing capacity that can't keep up.
For a budget phone, margin is everything. The CMF Phone 2 Pro launched at just $300—a price that left almost no room for error. When the cost of memory jumps 20% in a quarter, you either raise the price or kill the product. Nothing chose the latter.
It's a brutal reminder that in the hardware game, you're at the mercy of suppliers. One bad quarter from Samsung or Micron, and your entire product roadmap gets torched.
Nothing's Gamble: Play the Long Game
Evangelidis didn't just drop bad news. He hinted at a plan. 'We’re not abandoning the CMF line,' he said. 'We’re waiting for the right moment.'
That's either a savvy pivot or wishful thinking. The CMF brand is Nothing's entry-level weapon—its way to hook price-conscious buyers into the ecosystem. Without a fresh model in 2026, that pipeline dries up.
But Nothing has other irons in the fire. The Phone 3 Pro is rumored for later this year, and there's always the hope that memory prices stabilize by 2027. If they do, Nothing can relaunch with a smarter design and better margins. If they don't? The CMF line could become a one-hit wonder.
The Budget Phone Bloodbath
Nothing is far from the only casualty. Xiaomi, Realme, and even Samsung have quietly scaled back their budget offerings. The $200-$400 segment is getting squeezed from both sides: rising component costs on one end, and consumers who refuse to pay more for a 'budget' phone on the other.
Analysts at IDC predict that the average selling price of smartphones in 2026 will hit $440—up 8% from last year. That's the highest it's been since 2019. For budget phones, that's a death sentence.
The irony? Premium phones are thriving. Apple and Samsung are selling more $1,000+ devices than ever. But the low end is getting hollowed out. If you can't make a decent phone for under $400, you either go premium or go home.
What This Means for You
If you were waiting for a cheap CMF Phone 3 Pro, you're out of luck. The current CMF Phone 2 Pro is still on shelves, and Nothing says it will keep supporting it with software updates. But don't expect a successor anytime soon.
For everyone else, this is a sign of things to come. Budget phones are getting rarer, and that's bad for consumers. Competition forces innovation and keeps prices low. When players like Nothing retreat, the market tilts toward the giants.
Maybe memory prices will drop next year. Maybe AI demand will cool. Maybe new fabrication plants will come online. Maybe. But for now, the budget phone is on life support, and Nothing just pulled the plug on one of its most promising lines.
The CMF Phone 2 Pro was supposed to be the start of something. Instead, it might be the end of an era.
Let's hope Evangelidis is right: that they're waiting for the right moment, not hiding from a losing battle. Because if the budget phone market keeps bleeding, the only winners will be the premium players who don't need cheap RAM to survive.
