Smartphone maker Nothing to spin off its reasonably priced CMF model

{Hardware} startup Nothing mentioned Thursday that it plans to make its reasonably priced system model, CMF, into an impartial 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 underneath the model as nicely.

Nothing mentioned 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 mentioned that it goals to take a position greater than $100 million over the subsequent three years, whereas creating over 1,800 jobs.

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

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

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

“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 world 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 mentioned in an announcement.

The corporate’s transfer comes after it poached Himanshu Tondon from Xiaomi’s spin-off brand 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 embody Xiaomi spinning off POCO, Huawei selling off Honor, and Oppo making Realme a separate company.

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

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