Summary
- The CMF Phone 3 Pro has been officially cancelled for 2026, confirmed by Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis directly on X.
- Rebuilding the CMF Phone 2 Pro with identical specs at today’s component prices would cost Rs. 30,000–35,000 (~$320–370) — roughly 50-60% more than its Rs. 18,999 launch price.
- Carl Pei says RAM costs for the Nothing Phone 4a doubled between the decision to build it and launch — then doubled again since.
- Apple’s Tim Cook separately called the global memory pricing situation “unsustainable.”
- The scrapped CMF project may resurface under the Nothing brand as the Phone 4 (codename “Blastoise”), with leaked Q3 2026 timing.
The Number That Makes the Decision Obvious
CMF’s entire identity is built on aggressive value. Charging 50% more for the same hardware isn’t a CMF product. It’s a Nothing product at an awkward price. Evangelidis apparently agreed.
This Isn’t Just CMF’s Problem
The cancellation is the clearest industry signal yet of how badly RAMageddon — as some have taken to calling the global DRAM crisis — is hitting the budget end of the market. Carl Pei addressed it separately in the context of the Nothing Phone 4a: memory costs doubled between when they decided to build the device and when it launched, then doubled again after launch. Nothing’s leadership has warned publicly that RAM is now the most expensive component in a smartphone build — more than the SoC, more than the display. That’s a structural inversion of how phone economics have worked for the past decade.
“Nothing CEO Carl Pei put it plainly: for the Phone 4a, memory costs doubled between the decision to build it and launch — then doubled again. RAM is now the most expensive component in a smartphone, more than the chip or the screen.”
Apple’s Tim Cook, speaking separately, said the memory pricing situation had “become unsustainable.” When Apple and a startup sub-brand are making the same complaint in the same week, something systemic is happening.
Where the CMF Phone 3 Pro Might Actually Land
Here’s the interesting pivot. Android Authority reports that leaked CMF Phone 3 Pro projects may have migrated to the main Nothing brand, and that the teased codename “Blastoise” — expected to launch as the Nothing Phone 4 — could be a rechristened version of the cancelled CMF device. That would give the hardware more pricing flexibility in the ₹25,000-plus tier without breaking the CMF value proposition.
Evangelidis confirmed in his X post that CMF still has “several new products launching, as well as some entirely new categories” in 2026 — just not a smartphone. The CMF Phone 2 Pro, meanwhile, has been out of stock for an extended period. That shortage was apparently an early warning sign of the same cost pressures now forcing the cancellation. If you’ve been holding off on picking one up, the secondhand market may be your best option for a while.
