CMF by Nothing has seemingly been created to sell colorful, affordable accessories thus far. However, it, like its parent company, will branch out into making its own smartphones soon, according to a new leak. It is projected to land as a budget Android device, albeit one to match the vibrant design language of the sub-brand's other products.
Why? The illusion of choice? Are Nothing’s phones not selling well?
The CMF brand is aimed at the budget audience. Meanwhile nothing is in the upper midrange segment. Thats why.
Still seems strange, why not just open a new line with the Nothing name? Samsung lines goes from A15 to S22 Ultra within the same brand
It’s a common practice for car manufacturers. It lets a company gain more market penetration without diluting the expensive brand with cheap models. Companies can start in either camp and create sub brands in either direction. Hyundai for example had their affordable brands Hyundai and Kia, but also have Genesis as their upscale brand. It can also allow each sub company “friendly” competition as with Kia and Hyundai. They share some features and frameworks but they can each have their own teams focusing on different design languages and packages that let them go after the same market and some different edge cases . Ultimately, yeah illusion of choice but there are still some differences.
Shit, look at VAG if you want to see an extreme example.
They have the likes of Jetta (chinese-only, not to be confused with the VW Jetta car model), Skoda, Seat/Cupra, leading up to Volkswagen, then to Audi, then the likes of Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, and finally to Bugatti and now Rimac (sort of… there’s a weird and complex ownership structure going on there).
They already have a nothing 2a phone which is $350 US but maybe not available everywhere
Every Chinese brand has done this, including OnePlus (Nord), so I guess Carl Pei knows why they do it and why it works