The CMF Phone (1) was one of the most notable phones launched in 2024. This was because even though it came with a very mid-segment price tag (Rs 15,999/€ 199 onwards), it brought a lot to the table, including a very different and edgy design, a clean interface, and even some modular attachments (mods). Its successor, the CMF Phone 2 Pro, comes with a predictable hardware boost and also adds some new touches to its design and mods. But will this be enough for it to succeed in a very competitive segment?
CMF Phone 2 Pro Design: Bigger, but still as edgy – and “screwed up” – as before
The CMF Phone 1 had turned heads with its very industrial design, complete with screws that could actually be opened, on its back. The Phone 2 Pro sticks to this broad template. Its back too has an array of screws and a removable disc at the lower right corner, and just like in the first CMF phone, all of these can be removed as well. The key difference this time is that removing the screws and the disc will not remove the back of the phone, which is not removable. So why would one remove the screws? The answer is: to attach a Universal Cover, which in turn lets you attach mods to the phone, but more of that later. Interestingly, Nothing has still not included the screwdriver you need to open those screws in the box.
The back remains a carbonate one, but its texture has changed, and there are four colors to go around – white, orange, light green, and black. The white and orange are dual tones, with slightly dark and glossier lower halves, while the upper halves are lighter and have slightly more grainy textures, but the light green and black have smooth and glossy finishes. In the top left corner of the back of all the devices are two large cameras with rings that seem right out of the Samsung Galaxy S25 and and a smaller camera with a flash underneath it. The front is a 6.77-inch display, with narrow (albeit wider than some) bezels, and comes with Panda Glass protection, which is handy but is not quite in the same class as some of its competitors (the Redmi Note 14, for instance, comes with Gorilla Glass 5). The frame is carbonate too, with the volume buttons on the left and the power/display and Essential Space button (similar to the one on the Nothing Phone 3a series) on the right. The base houses the USB Type-C port, a speaker grille, and the SIM/ MicroSD hybrid tray.
We got the light green variant of the CMF Phone 2 Pro and while it is not as striking as the dual-toned orange and white variants, it sticks out from the regular midsegment phone crowd with its refreshing pale green color, sleek, shiny back with large camera rings and screws. Even though it is an impressive 7.8 mm thin (Nothing claims it is its thinnest phone), the Phone 2 Pro is a rather big phone, being 164 mm tall and 78 mm wide – the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 163 mm tall and 77.6 mm wide, for comparison. However, at 185 grams, it is light for its size. It comes with IP54 dust and water protection, which is a little on the basic side but is definitely handy. All in all, this is a big phone whose design will turn heads, mainly because of those screws. It is a sleeker and more polished version of the CMF Phone 1, and certainly the most ‘different looking’ phone in its segment. What’s more, it now comes with a transparent case in the box for protection – a first for a Nothing device.
CMF Phone 2 Pro Specs: Bigger display and 50 MP cameras!
In terms of specs, the CMF Phone 2 Pro is a clear step ahead of the CMF Phone 1. The display is a large 6.77-inch flexible AMOLED one (up from 6.67-inch on the Phone 1) with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a very impressive peak brightness of 3000 nits, making it one of the best in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment. Powering the phone is a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro chip, a small step up from the Dimensity 7300 on the Phone 1, and a very solid mid-segment performer.
This is paired with 8 GB RAM and storage options of 128 GB and 256 GB, with the storage being expandable using a microSD card. The biggest improvement is in the camera department, where the phone becomes the first in the segment to pack in a 50-megapixel main sensor and a 50-megapixel telephoto sensor with 2x zoom, although neither comes with OIS. There is also an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera on the back, while selfies are handled by a 16-megapixel camera.
Keeping all this running is a 5000 mAh battery with support for 33W charging, and in a pleasant surprise, a 33W charger in the box as well, making this the first phone from Nothing to come with a charger in the box. The phone runs on NothingOS 3.2, Nothing’s clean interface on top of Android 15, with an assurance of three years of OS updates and six years of security updates. The cameras and display are the standout features in what is a very good mid-segment spec sheet, although the absence of stereo speakers is a major miss. You can also add more to the device through mods, which we will cover in detail later in this review.
CMF Phone 2 Pro performance: Clean UI, big display, and smooth performance make this a great daily driver
The CMF Phone 2 Pro is not specced for heavy-duty gaming, but it packs in enough for one to play Call of Duty and race around in Asphalt, with a few tweaks to the graphics. The large, bright display is very good for viewing content, from series to films to Insta Reels, and the single speaker delivers reasonably loud output, although it cannot match the richness of the audio from stereo speakers on devices like the Redmi Note 14 and the iQOO Z9s. The large display also makes the Phone 2 Pro a very good device for reading and browsing content, and Nothing’s clean interface works smoothly, letting you sail through regular day-to-day tasks like web browsing, social media, and emails and messages without a hitch.
There are plenty of AI tools available onboard as well, including Gemini (with the Share Screen with Live feature) and Magic Eraser, and while you will not get the sort of smooth AI performance that you get on the (more expensive) Phone (3a) series, the Phone 2 Pro does very well in this department for its price. Essential Space gives you the option to quickly capture what’s on your screen and add a note to it. As we said in our review of the Phone (3a) Pro, this is an interesting concept for those who want to make notes and observations on the go, but it is still a bit of a work in progress. It is great to see the feature on a phone in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment, although we are not too sure about how many of its users will actually use it.
The in-display fingerprint scanner works smoothly, but call quality can sometimes be a little hit-and-miss, with the phone sometimes dropping calls, especially in areas where the network is not strong. All in all, once you get used to its slightly large size, this is a very good daily driver as long as you do not push it too hard. Nothing also keeps updating the software regularly, quashing bugs, improving performance, and adding new features – a massive 4.5 GB update delayed the writing of this review, but improved battery life and selfie camera performance significantly!
CMF Phone 2 Pro Cameras: The real stars of the CMF Phone 2 Pro show
The two 50-megapixel cameras on the back of the CMF Phone 2 Pro are its biggest USPs. While the absence of OIS on the main sensor is disappointing, it is rare to see a telephoto sensor at this price point, let alone a 50-megapixel one. And both cameras deliver very good results. Some might find the colors a little too bright, but that is perfectly acceptable at this price point, where most consumers are seeking pleasant rather than super-realistic imagery.
Both cameras also capture a decent amount of detail in good light conditions, and if you can keep the phone steady, you will be rewarded with some surprisingly good low-light shots with remarkably bright colors.
Nothing claims to have improved image quality through its TrueLens Engine 3, and the main and telephoto sensors certainly deliver very good results. The telephoto comes with a rather basic 2x zoom, and although you can go up to 20x digital zoom, anything more than 4x often results in a lot of noise creeping in and a loss of detail.
The phone also does exceptionally well in the portrait mode department, providing users with four focal lengths and four kinds of bokeh. Purists might find the bokeh a little exaggerated in some places, but by and large, the phone serves up very good portraits. The ultrawide camera is best used for a wider perspective, as it tends to lose out on details, but the selfie camera delivers great selfies (especially after a recent update), but once again with colors on the bright side and skin smoothened out (we don’t mind at all). Video quality is good enough for social media, especially if you stick to shooting in good light conditions.
The cameras are not always the fastest, and sometimes there is a slight lag between hitting the shutter and the snap being taken, which also limits their ability when it comes to capturing action snaps, but all said and done, we would rate the CMF Phone 2 Pro as the best camera phone in the sub-Rs 20,000 category, and hope that more brands start including telephoto sensors in their phones at this price point.
CMF Phone 2 Pro Mods: Handy but not really easy to use
Like the Phone 1, the CMF Phone 2 Pro also comes with the option of adding mods to the device, allowing consumers to use additional features. However, Nothing has changed its approach in this regard. While in the CMF Phone 1, you could unscrew the back, add a new back plate, and remove the disc to attach a lanyard, the brand now has added what it calls a Universal Cover to the mod mix. This is basically a cover that has to be screwed on top of the back of the phone and to which one can attach mods like fisheye and macro lenses, a magnetic stand, and a wallet, and of course, one can still attach a lanyard by removing the revolving disc.
The problem is that the whole process of screwing on the Universal Cover takes a few minutes, which kind of limits its utility. For instance, an insect one wants to snap using the macro lens might well have flown off by the time one has removed the screws from the back, screwed on the Universal Cover, and then attached the macro lens to it.
Similarly, going through the whole process just to attach a stand or wallet to the back seems a little tedious. Keeping the Universal Cover attached is not an option as it frankly does not look as good as the original colors of the phone, which are such an integral part of its identity. There is no doubting the utility of the mods – the macro camera does deliver some very good snaps (although you need to get really close to the subject) and the stand is super handy, but it is the process of adding them that is tedious. Perhaps Nothing needs to walk away from the screws and look at magnets – we are terrified of losing the tiny screws anyways.
CMF Phone 2 Pro Battery and charging speed: Steady, and with a charger in the box!
The CMF Phone 2 Pro comes with a 5000 mAh battery with support for 33W charging speed and is also the first phone from Nothing to come with a charger in the box. The battery life of the phone was initially a little disappointing as it generally would last about a day at most, but a recent update has improved matters considerably. At the time of writing, the Phone 2 Pro can easily see off a day of normal to heavy use and even gets one through a few hours of use on the second day. The 33W charging speed gets the battery from zero to full in about 85-90 minutes, which is not super fast (45W is generally seen at this price point) but is not a deal breaker.
CMF Phone 2 Pro Pricing: Higher than the Phone 1, but with a camera edge, and still budget-friendly
The CMF Phone 2 Pro is available in two RAM and storage options as follows:
- 8 GB/ 128 GB: Rs 18,999/ $ 329/ € 249/ £ 206.85
- 8 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 20,999
This places the Phone 2 Pro at a slightly higher price point than the CMF Phone 1, which had started at Rs 15,999, although for a 6 GB/ 128 GB variant. It also puts it against some very tough competition, most notably from the Poco X7, which now starts at Rs 17,999 and comes with a Dimensity 7300 Ultra processor and a 5500 mAh battery with support for 45W charging. Also in the running is the slightly older but still formidable iQOO Z9s, which packs in a Dimensity 7300 chip and a similarly sized display with a 5500 mAh battery and 44W charging. Another phone with the Dimensity 7300 is the Infinix Note 50s, which also has a very different design and a big battery. A key point to note, however, is that none of the CMF Phone 2 Pro’s competitors can match its dual 50-megapixel camera setup or its clean interface, both of which are rare at its price point.
CMF Phone 2 Pro review verdict: Ignore the mods, get it for the cameras, UI, and design!
The CMF Phone 2 Pro’s edgy, industrial design ensures that it is pretty much in a zone of its own as far as appearance goes in its price segment. Ally that with the fact that it has perhaps the best cameras in its segment, the phone becomes one of the best you can get for under Rs 20,000, with the super clean interface being the software cherry on the cake. Nothing’s decision to add a case and charger to the package makes the CMF Phone 2 Pro much easier to recommend than the Phone 1, which lacked both. No, it is not perfect – it is rather large, the absence of stereo speakers is a miss, the mods are not easy to use, and there are phones whose batteries last longer and charge faster – but even with all that factored in, this is a super phone, and perhaps the best for those prioritizing good cameras and/or a clean UI.
Buy CMF Phone 2 Pro (India)
Buy CMF Phone 2 Pro (USA)
Buy CMF Phone 2 Pro (UK)
- Eye-catching design
- Best camera performance in the segment
- Clean UI with no bloatware
- Smooth performance
- Charger and case in the box (for the first time)
- Decent battery life
- Regular software updates
- Ultrawide camera is not the greatest
- Mods are not easy to use
- No stereo speakers
- Charges relatively slowly
- Calls drop in weaker network areas
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SUMMARY
The CMF Phone 2 Pro brings a different design, clean UI, and very good cameras to the mid-segment table, but faces a lot of competitive heat! |
4.2
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