The CMF Phone 1 could revive the modular dream with detachable kickstands and backplates

Considering how often smartphones travel with us everywhere we go, capturing more or less everything we do, it’s surprising how impersonal they can be. Sure, yearly software updates like Android 15 and iOS 18 bring new customization options and features, but that doesn’t change how your physical phone looks, just the arrangement of apps and widgets on your home screen.

Modular smartphones were supposed to be the answer. A way to change the physical appearance and capability of your phone just by swapping in a few parts or adding on an attachment. Plenty of companies tried it — Google’s Project Ara, Motorola’s Moto Mods for the Moto Z, LG’s ill-fated Friends, the Essential Phone’s Click Connector — but none of them ever really caught on.

That could soon change. Nothing has been slowly trickling out information about its first budget phone, the CMF Phone 1, and it looks like on top of having a distinct, colorful design, it might just revive the modular smartphone dream.

Solid budget specs first and foremost

Big battery, bright screen, and a sharp camera

Nothing / Pocket-lint

Based on what Nothing has shared so far, the CMF Phone 1 will get a lot of the smartphone basics right. It has a 6.67-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth flicking and swiping between screens, 2,000 nits of peak brightness (for comparison, the Galaxy S24 has 2,600 nits of peak brightness), and support for HDR10+. On top, Nothing is also opting for an on-display fingerprint sensor to make it quick to unlock the phone.

The CMF Phone 1 will also apparently have a long battery life. Nothing claims the 5,000mAh battery inside translates to two days of use or “22 hours of non-stop YouTube.” On the back of the phone, there’s a 50-megapixel camera sensor for sharp photos, and at least two different lenses to choose from, though it’s not clear if Nothing is opting for a wide and a telephoto, or wide and ultra-wide, or some other combination.

Really, the only missing detail is what chip the CMF Phone 1 will use. The Nothing Phone (2) uses a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the Nothing Phone (2a) uses a MediaTek Dimesnity 7200 Pro 5G, for example. It’s possible that the CMF Phone 1 will use something older or less powerful to cut costs, but Nothing has at least confirmed that it will have 16GB of RAM.

Related

5 reasons I’d pick CMF Nothing Buds over Apple AirPods

The CMF Buds have a rich set of features at a much lower price than AirPods, and that’s just one of the reasons why I keep coming back to them.

The CMF strategy

This all lines up with what’s been the CMF strategy so far, which is offering a lot of value for cheap. The company is mostly focused on bringing flagship-level design to budget devices, but the technical details and performance have been great where it matters. We were really impressed with the bass and call quality of the bright orange CMF Buds for example, and they cost less than $50.

Unique customization options

The magic of a tiny screwdriver

Nothing / Pocket-lint

Nothing originally started teasing the CMF Phone 1 with a small orange screwdriver, and as it turns out, most of the modular customization options hinge on it. Specifically, it’s uniquely suited for removing the CMF Phone 1’s backplate. Based on what Nothing’s shared, it’s not clear if removing the backplate will allow access to anything on the inside of the phone like the battery, but it will let you swap the color of your phone. Nothing says it will offer black, blue, light green, and orange backplates to choose from.

Kickstands, wristbands, and more

Via a dial-shaped attachment on the back of the CMF Phone 1, you can also use the screwdriver to attach modular attachments that can change the function of the phone. These include what looks like an adjustable kickstand, a wristband, and what might be a battery pack.

How easy these attachments will be to get on and off remains to be seen, but it fits with the “engineer’s aesthetic” that Nothing is going for with the phone. Its unique design flourishes are as functional as they are fun and quirky. Obviously, they’re not as in-depth as what Google was trying with Project Ara, which wanted to make core phone components like the camera and processors hot-swappable, nor as complex as the Essential Phone 1’s attachments, which included things like a 360 camera or DAC.

What the CMF Phone 1’s accessories do capture is the basic idea of Moto Mods, just in a much more modern package. And that’s not nothing. It’s a less ambitious form of modularity, but it should make for a more personal, useful phone, assuming Nothing’s able to do it at a truly budget price.

We’ll know more about the CMF Phone 1 soon

We should get all the details on the CMF Phone 1, along with a new CMF Watch Pro 2 smartwatch and CMF Buds Pro 2 wireless earbuds, at Nothing’s next event. The company is streaming a “Community Update” on its YouTube channel on July 8 at 8:00 AM BST. At the very least, what’s been shown of the CMF Phone 1 is very promising. Phone should be as personal as the are usueful, and embracing modular design seems like a great way to do it.

Related

Boox’s Palma is a flawed E Ink gadget that helped me stop doomscrolling

The tiny e-reader has several issues, but it helped me overcome one of mine and read more.