Quick Summary
Nothing has been regularly posting details on its forthcoming CMF Phone 1, revealing pretty much everything you need to know ahead of launch.
It will run on the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor and feature a 5,000mAh battery, which it claims can last up to two days.
Nothing Tech – the company behind CMF – is taking a unique approach with its launch of the CMF Phone 1.
Instead of buttoning everything up and trying to keep it all a secret until the phone is announced on 8 July, the company is quite literally revealing everything, piece by piece.
A series of posts on X lets us look at the individual pieces of the phone, with the company detailing the specifics and telling us what different parts do. It's a great way to get to know the device inside out. At the time of writing, we're on day 5 of the big reveal and there's no knowing how much longer the tease will continue, but we've learnt a lot so far.
Day 5 of revealing CMF Phone 1. Today we're showcasing the Flexible Printed Circuits (FPC) and the battery. FPCs connect the mainboard to the display and lower board, replacing bulky cables for smooth data flow. Our 5000mAh battery powers up to 2 days of use or 22 hours of… pic.twitter.com/yRwDZEp3MiJune 30, 2024
First, the company has revealed the CMF Phone 1 will have a 6.67-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate – including HDR10+ support. There's going to be a 2000 nits peak brightness, which is impressive for a device that's supposed to sit at the affordable end of the spectrum. Could this be one of the best cheap phones to buy?
Next it is revealed that there will be up to 16GB of RAM, and I'm assuming that's expandable RAM, so some of it will be virtual. It's also been confirmed that it will be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300, which is mid-range hardware around the Snapdragon 7 series level. It's 4nm and CMF is convinced it will deliver great performance.
Then we learn that there's a 5,000mAh battery, claiming 2 days of use, or 22 hours of watching YouTube. Can you imagine watching YouTube for 22 hours straight?
Everything above has been confirmed by CMF itself, fitting in with earlier leaks.
Thankfully, we've seen some reliable sources leaking the remainder of the specs, so you can also expect 33W charging and a pair of 50-megapixel cameras on the rear of the phone.
We also know that the CMF Phone 1 is going to come with a SIM tool that's also a screwdriver, with the company going to great lengths to show off the removable screw on the rear of the phone. That suggests some degree of user serviceability, most likely a replaceable battery.
What we know less about is the software. It's expected to launch on Android 14 running Nothing OS and it will be interesting to see how many years of software support it will receive, given that many phones at the affordable end of the spectrum only get 2 years of OS updates.
That would beg the question of whether you'd need to replace the battery before software support runs out. CMF has the chance to change the script here by offering a little more in the cheap phone segment, but without a commitment to longer software support, any hardware repairability might be a moot point.
Currently we don't know what the final price will be. The leaked price in Rupees comes in around £150-170; it wouldn't be surprising if it attracted a price tag of £199. All will be revealed on 8 July.
