Nothing may only have been around for a short couple of years, but the startup is already launching an affordable subbrand. Speaking during the company’s latest community update, Nothing CEO Carl Pei said that the company’s new “CMF by Nothing” brand aims to offer “a new range of products that make better design more accessible.”
The first pair of products carrying the branding will be a new pair of earbuds and a smartwatch. Both will arrive later this year, with more details promised in the coming months. In case you’re wondering, “CMF” apparently stands for “Color, Material, and Finish” in reference to the design philosophy of a similar name. While the main Nothing brand will focus on “design innovation” that’s “premium” and uses the “latest technology,” Pei says that CMF by Nothing will apparently feature “clean design” that’s “accessible” and offers “trusted quality.”
In today’s video, Pei didn’t offer many clues about how Nothing is getting into this many products and product categories so quickly, noting only that “CMF by Nothing is run by a separate team within Nothing to ensure that there’s no distraction from our main products.” But when I interviewed the CEO early last year, Pei was open about his ambitions to partner with other companies to co-develop products, effectively working as external consumer tech consultants to help solve design, supply chain, and engineering challenges. “I think we have a much easier time convincing partners because we help them do a lot of the work that they can’t do themselves,” Pei said at the time.
Pei has a history of launching affordable subbrands within existing tech companies. One of of the last major projects he worked on while still at OnePlus was kickstarting its Nord subbrand, whose range has since expanded to include multiple phones, earbuds, and even a smartwatch.
