CMF Phone 2 Pro by Nothing – spectacular value for an excellent mid-range phone (review)

CMF Phone 2 Pro by Nothing stands out in a sea of bland glass slabs because of its features, value, and quirky design.

CMF stands for Colour, Materials and Finish, and the UK-based designers at Nothing take that mantra very seriously. It is a sub-brand aimed at the mid-market.

We first saw the Nothing in July 2024 with its Phone 2a (let’s not confuse this with the CMF sub-brand) and were impressed by its innovative Glyph lights and value with AMOLED screen and MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro SoC. In fact, this hardware is essentially an update of that phone, which shows how last year’s features make their way down to next year’s model.

You can read reviews on the Nothing (2a), (3a) and (3a) Pro here.

Should you risk Nothing?

Nothing is now a serious competitor for Samsung, OPPO and Motorola, despite it only being sold by JB Hi-Fi and Nothing online. It has strengthened its after-sales service and has a post-in/back 3-5 working day turnaround and status tracking.

So far, we have only seen the range’s upsides. But there are some downsides that may or may not affect your decision.

• Nothing overlays OS 3.2 on Android 15. It’s a little different from what you are used to with Samsung, OPPO, or Motorola. We don’t think it is much of a learning curve to recognise its differently styled icons, and you can customise the wallpaper, etc.
• Nothing designs but does not manufacture the phone. Using an external assembler means that it may not have the supply chain clout or economy of scale to compete with the big guys. Yet they seem to be competing on price pretty well.
• There is no track record for second-hand sales or trade-ins, so you may not get a lot back when you sell. Samsung is best here for retained value, but at $449, I don’t think that is a major issue.
• It is not easy to find a range of cases or screen protectors. eBay has some, and Nothing has some, but these don’t appear to be sold in Australia.
• And we hope Nothing is here to stay. If enthusiasm counts, they have a bright future.

On the bright side, its USP is its difference, and that is refreshing.

Australian Review: CMF Phone 2 Pro by Nothing, Dual Hybrid SIM and Micro-SD, 8/256GB (as tested),, Model A001

Android 15, 1 April 2025 update. All specs and prices are as of 4/6/25.

Brand	CMF by Nothing
Model	CMF Phone 2 Pro
Model Number	A001
RAM/Storage Base	8/128
Price base	449
Price 2	$509 8/256GB (as tested)
Warranty months	24-months
Teir	upper entry-level
Website	Product Page
From	JB Hi-Fi or Nothing AU online
Country of Origin	China
Company	Nothing (Est. 2020) is London-based and is manufactured in China.
More	CyberShack smartphone news and reviews
Test date	May 2025
Ambient temp	12-20°
Release	May 2025
Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy)	Only buy from Nothing Online or JB Hi-Fi. The rest are grey market.

Warning: Do not buy grey market

Nothing is a trendy phone brand with a huge grey market. Only buy the Australian-certified version for Telco networks and an Australian warranty from Nothing AU or JB Hi-Fi. You can check its bona fide by an R-NZ C-Tick on the packaging and under Settings, About Phone, and Regulatory labels.

Read: Don’t buy a grey market smartphone.

Test ratings

We use the following ratings: Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations), and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) for many of the items listed below. We occasionally give a Passable rating that is not as good as it should be, and a Pass+ rating to indicate it is good but does not quite meet the Exceed standard. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

How to make the best use of this review

We tested over 70 different aspects and uncovered nearly 300 key data points about the device. Overall reviews can reach 5000+ words. So, if you are keen, this is the world’s most comprehensive review!

If you want to see our impressions only, they are at the beginning of each table, and at the end are CyberShack’s View, competitor analysis, and ratings. Ratings are based on the price bracket and expectations, so a $200 phone may score as well as a $2000 phone—we compare like with like.

First Impression – good, different

I have several phones on the review test bed. Without fail, these are ‘glass slabs’ with little to discriminate between them: glass front, plastic or alloy frame, glass/plastic/faux leather backs. Don’t get me wrong—glass slabs are why we can get so much for so little compared to so little for so much in the flip and foldable space.

I know that this is a $449/509 phone, so it competes with the OPPO A4 Pro (review coming), Samsung A26, OPPO Reno 13 F (review coming) and a few 2024 runouts.

But as nice as they are, this stands out for its

• Design (we refer to that later, and it’s highly repairable).
• Design cues – love the colours, back and the stainless steel screws.
• Amazing 10-bit/1.07 billion colour, 120Hz AMOLED screen (with no PWM issues – Samsung, we are looking at you!).
• Micro-SD card storage expansion.
• A 50MP 2X optical and 20X Hybrid Telephoto (unheard of at this price).
• Nothing OS and the Essential Key/Essential Space (read the 3a review for that overview)
• 2+2+6 Warranty/OS upgrade/patches policy

There are a few downsides – none a deal breaker at this price

• The mono sound is poor – use earphones
• Wi-Fi seems capped at 480 Mbps instead of 1200 or 2400.
• It is excellent as a city and suburbs phone, where there is good tower coverage, but not for regional or rural use.

Screen – Exceed

This is a superb, bright screen, almost worthy of a flagship phone. It is 10-bit/1.07 billion colours, 120Hz AMOLED. The best part is that it is great for PWM-sensitive people and guaranteed not to cause headaches for the rest of us.

It supports HDR10+ content but not Dolby Vision (and it has a mono speaker anyway), and I can’t help but feel it’s so overspecified for the price. Nothing must have bought a lot, for it is essentially the same screen as used in the 2a, 3a, and 3a Pro.

Enjoy this daylight-readable, superb AMOLED.

Size	6.77
Type	Flexible AMOLED LTPS (Not LTPO)
Flat, Curve, 2D, 3D	Flat with centre o-hole
Resolution	2392 x 1080
PPI	387
Ratio	20:9
Screen to Body%	88%
Colours bits	10-bit/1.07 billion colours True 10-bit – not 8-bit plus 2 FRC
Refresh Hz, adaptive	High: 120Hz maximum Standard: 60Hz Dynamic: 60/90/120Hz Note that the screen only supports 60/90/120Hz stepping – it is not LTPO AMOLED. 30Hz base for video playback. Games lock at 60Hz
Response 120Hz	1000Hz
Nits typical, test	Claim: 800 typical Test 734
Nits max, test	Claim 1300 HBM Test: 1285 Claim 3000 peak Unable to test in 2% window, but it does support HDR10+ (not Dolby Vision)
Contrast	Infinite
sRGB	100+% in standard and alive modes
DCI-P3	80% standard mode 110% Alive mode
Rec. 2020 or other	N/A
Delta E (<4 is excellent)	<2 – excellent
HDR Level	HDR10+ (no Dolby Vision)
SDR Upscale	No
Blue Light control	No
PWM if known	DC dimming at 50+% brightness. PWM at 2150Hz below 50%. Should be fine for PWM-susceptible.
Daylight readable	Yes
Always on Display	Yes
Edge display	No
Accessibility	Usual Android 15
DRM	L1 SDR
Gaming	The processor power and screen response (.79 GtG) are sufficient to play HD games up to 60fps. But it is not really designed for heavy gaming.
Screen protection	Panda Glass (no grade specified) MoH’s hardness 6 (average scratch resistance) Not drop resistant
Comment	For the price, this Flexible 10-bit AMOLED is a superb screen with excellent colour gamut and colour accuracy. Better still, at 2160Hz, it avoids PWM dimming at 50 %+ brightness. It still has PWM below 50%.

Processor – Pass

There are no published specs for the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G, so we assume this is a Nothing exclusive.  It is a relatively powerful processor with a decent GPU that should give you plenty of speed for daily use.

Type	MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G There are no published benchmarks, but the CPU is claimed to be 10% faster, and the GPU is 5% faster. The NPU claims 4 TOPS.
nm	4nm TSMC N4P
Cores	4 x2.5GHz & 4 x2.0GHz
Modem	MediaTek 5G Modem, Dual 5G

Benchmarks

We have started to measure AI benchmarks. The processor itself is relatively powerful and will meet all your daily needs without lag.

As yet, we cannot be definitive about how much power is required for on-device AI, but the Google Pixel 9 series has an AiTuTu score over 100,000 and an NPU (NNAPI) score over 6,000.  This scores 2642, which means that any AI is limited to cloud processing.

AI	6th-gen APU 655 – around 4 TOPS Geekbench AI CPU: 899/897/2015 GPU: 273/320/350 NNAPI: 532/1294/2642 AiTuTu: 98,323 AI Benchmark 6: 541 GFLOPS: 14.56 GINOPS: 16.08
AnTuTu	Would not run, but switched to Game Mode, which is not really ‘ethical’.
Geekbench 6 Single-core	1010
Geekbench 6 multi-core	2931
Like	Like Exynos 2100 or SD860
GPU	Mali-G615 MC2
GPU Test
Open CL	2508
Like	SD860
Vulcan	2508
RAM, type	8GB LPDDR4X plus up to 8GB virtual RAM
Storage, free, type	128 or 256GB UFS 2.2 (Tested 256GB/211 free)
micro-SD	Yes, to 2TB
CPDT internal seq. Read MBps sustained/peak	757.47 (fast) 1001 Max
CPDT internal seq. Write MBps sustained/peak	416.33 569.75 Max
CPDT microSD read, write MBps	78.83/49.21 (134.79/56.68 Max)
CPDT external (mountable?) MBps	Files finds it as an OTG for cut and paste, but not as a mountable device, and will not speed test.
Comment	The MT Dimensity 7300 Pro does not appear in any chip database, so we assume it’s a slightly overclocked version of the 7300. It has enough power for daily productivity and basic AI in the cloud.

Throttle – Pass+

It has 12% (minimal throttling), which means power users won’t see a significant drop-off for prolonged use. It sustains full power for four minutes, drops to about 80% for 8 minutes and recovers to full power after that.

Throttle test
Max GIPS	274805
Average GIPS	255568
Minimum GIPS	221492
% Throttle	12%
CPU Temp	<50
Comment	It has decent thermal management, although the 4nm SoC does not run all that hot anyway. We suspect that Nothing deliberately throttles to prevent heat. It starts strongly for eight minutes and drops to a rock-solid 80% for the remainder of the test.

Comms – Pass

This claims Wi-Fi 6 AX, which should mean at least 1200, if not 2400Mbps, full-duplex Wi-Fi speeds. But it seems capped at 480 Mbps (full-duplex). While it’s not a huge issue, it means that the antenna system is two-stream, 1 x 1 MIMO, and we hope phone makers become more open to publishing real speeds.

Wi-Fi Type, model	Wi-Fi 6 AX 2.4/5GHz MU-MIMO It may be dual band 2.4/5GHz, but it behaves like a 1 x 1 MIMO Wi-Fi 5 AC, never reaching more than 479/479Mbps
Test 2m -dBm, Rx/Tx Mbps	-47/479/479 5GHz
Test 5m	-59/479/479
Test 10m	-55/479/479
BT Type	5.3
GPS single, dual	GPS (L1), GLONASS (G1), BDS (B1I), GALILEO (E1), QZSS (L1)
USB type	USB-C 2.0 480Mbps no Alt DP support
ALT DP, DeX, Ready For	No
NFC	Yes
Ultra-wideband	No
Sensors
Accelerometer	Yes
Gyro	Combo
e-Compass	Yes
Barometer
Gravity
Pedometer
Ambient light	Yes
Hall sensor
Proximity	Yes
Other	X-Axis linear vibrator (haptics – all phones have this)
Comment	While Wi-Fi speed is not critical, 480 Mbps is barely acceptable. It should be at least 1200/1200.

4/5G – Pass+ for city and suburbs only

MediaTek is showing a definite improvement in its modem design. This one can find two towers on 4G Bands 3 and 28 at up to 20pW signal strengths. Perfect for city and suburbs with good tower coverage. There was adequate indoor coverage, too.

We could not find a usable 5G signal, but that is not unusual.

SIM	Dual SIM or SIM and micro-SD
Active	DSDS (Dual SIM, Dual Standby – one active)
Ringtone single, dual	Single
VoLTE	Yes
Wi-Fi calling	Yes
4G Bands	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 38, 40, 41, 42, 48, 66, 71
Comment	Close to a world phone
5G sub-6GHz	n1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66, 71, 77, 78
Comment	Close to a world phone
mmWave	N/A
Test Boost Mobile, Telstra
DL/UL, ms	4G: 63.5/17.3/38ms (good) 5G: Not enough signal
Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW	4G Band 3: 4 to 20pW 4G Band 28: 1 to 12.6pW 5G: not enough signal
Tower 2	4G Band 3: 7.9 to 20pW 4G Band 28: 1 to 4pW 5G: Not enough signal
Tower 3	Nil
Tower 4	Nil
Comment	As a 4G phone, it will work in cities, suburbs, as long as you have adequate band 28 coverage. As a 5G phone (the test is in a blackspot) it’s OK for city and suburb use.

Battery – Pass+

5000mAh is about standard for mid-range phones, but this stands out as it claims 1200 full recharge cycles before it retains 90% capacity. Samsung only provide 500 recharge cycles before it has an 80% capacity.

No charger is supplied, and you will need a 30W or larger fast charger. Recharge time was a little slow at 1.5 hours.

The SoC and screen contribute to a fairly high power draw under load, so power users will get 4-8 screen-on hours, and typical users will get 15-20 hours. Its video loop is superb at 27 hours, but the device knows that you are playing movies and basically hibernates the phone functions.

mAh	5000mAh nominal (19.45Wh) 3.89V/4.92A/19.14W Claimed 1200 recharge cycles at 90% fill
Charger, type, supplied	None supplied Claim 33W fast charge capable Using Anker 240W (100W per channel) and 5W cable achieved 9V/3A/27W
PD, QC level	PD and PPPS
Qi, wattage	N/A
Reverse Qi or cable	5W Cable
Test (60Hz or adaptive screen)	Adaptive
Charge % 30mins	57%
Charge 0-100%	1 hour 32 minutes
Charge Qi, W	N/A
Charge 5V, 2A	5 hours
Video loop 50%, aeroplane mode	27 hours
PC Mark 3 battery	17 hours 16 minutes Accubattery: 18 hours
GFX Bench Manhattan battery	533.2 minutes (8.9 hours)
GFX Bench T-Rex	843.9 minutes (14 hours) 3357 frames
Drain 100-0% full load screen on	4 hours Accubattery 4 hours 57 minutes
mA Full load screen on	1500-1550
mA Watt idle Screen on	350-400
Estimate loss at max refresh	20%
Estimate typical use	It is a little hard to be accurate, as 350-400 mA at idle and 1500-1550 mA under load is 20% higher than we expected. The always-on display and 120Hz would exhaust this in 4-5 hours of screen-on time. If you are a typical user, you might get 15-20 hours.
Comment	It has excellent video loop times, but this is the least demanding test. Modern SoCs can detect video playback and go into a power-saving mode, but they draw quite a lot of power under load.

Sound hardware – barely passable

Mono speakers are things found in <$200 phones, and this is the greatest misstep. On the bright side, it’s suitable for hands-free use and has some Bluetooth aptX codecs for good sound over earphones. CMF have released its $109 BUDS 2 PLUS. SoundGuys have a review here.

Speakers	Mono earpiece or single down-firing
Tuning	No
AMP	MediaTek
Dolby Atmos decode	No
Hi-Res	No
3.5mm	No – requires an external USB-C DAC to use wired headphones.
BT Codecs	SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC, LHDC v3/5 16-bit/48000Hz
Multipoint	Yes
Dolby Atmos (DA)	No decoder or spatial sound processing
EQ	No
Mics	2 – One is for noise cancelling.
Test dB – all on EQ flat, DA off
Volume max	86
Media (music)	79.9
Ring	78
Alarm	86
Notifications	86
Earpiece	55
Hands-free	Dual mics and what appears to be an ANC mic near the camera provide good voice pickup. The volume is adequate for hands-free use at arm’s length.
BT headphones	Average volume and channel separation

Sound signature – barely passable

Few phones have passable sound for music, as the tiny speakers simply cannot produce enough bass or treble (if at all). They all focus on clear voice from 1-4kHz (mid-centric).

In the teardown later, you will see that the haptic engine is part of the mono speaker. We can only assume that this design has worsened the sound signature with substantial distortion, frequency clipping and dropouts. There is no bass or treble either.

See the Golden line below – it should be smooth without sudden dips and choppiness.

Deep Bass 20-40Hz	Nil
Middle Bass 40-100Hz	Nil
High Bass 100-200Hz	Slow climb to 500Hz
Low Mid 200-400Hz	Slow climb to 500Hz
Mid 400-1000Hz	Flat to 5kHz – lots of distortion and clipping
High-Mid 1-2kHz	Flat to 5kHz
Low Treble 2-4kHz	Flat to 5kHz
Mid Treble 4-6kHz	Steady decline to 20kHz with too much distortion
High Treble 6-10kHz	Steady decline to 20kHz with too much distortion
Dog Whistle 10-20kHz	Steady decline to 20kHz with too much distortion
Sound Signature type	Mid for clear voice. The music quality lacks any bass or treble and lacks any vitality.
Soundstage	Mono – no sound stage
Comment	While a mid-signature for clear voice is all you can expect from a phone, this had significant distortion and even dropouts (see the Gold line on the graph). It improved slightly at 70% volume, but there were still unexplained dips. In the teardown video, we see that the bottom speaker is a combo with the haptic engine, and that may explain its behaviour.

Build – interesting and Pass+

If you hark back to the Nokias of yore, they had a very simple front glass entry to a monolithic polycarbonate shell. This made them easy to repair. CMF has somewhat emulated that with four stainless steel screws to hold the whole case to the chassis, which makes for easy front and back access and battery replacement.

It is IP54 rated (expect no more from this price bracket), but it can withstand a dunk in 25cm of water.

Build	Colour, Material and Finish
Size (H X W x D)	164 x 78 x 7.8
Weight grams	185
Front glass	Panda Glass Mohs 6
Rear material	PMMA
Frame	PMMA
IP rating	IP54 Plus 20 minutes in up to 25cm in water
Colours	Orange Black White
Pen, Stylus support	Attachment point for lanyard
Teardown	Use any PPS or PD charger >30Wa and 5A cable for maximum charge speed.
In the box
Charger	No
USB cable	3W
Buds	No
Bumper cover	Yes
Comment	Use any PPS or PD charger >30W and a 5A cable for maximum charge speed.

OS – Pass+

It has Google Gemini and Circle to Search. It reserves AI processing for its photos (and uses the Google Photos app so its features are available) and its Essential Key and Space.

You get two OS upgrades (good for this price) and a massive six years of security patches.

Android	Android 15
Security patch date	1 April 2025
UI	Nothing OS 2.2
OS upgrade policy	2
Security patch policy	6
Bloatware	It is very clean – 10 points! You can use all standard Google apps as well as some Nothing substitutes. Those used to Android standard icons may have to relearn the Nothing iconography – easy.
Other	No Glyph
Comment	Essential Key Long-press record voice. Double-press to access Essential Space. AI organises your captures and generates personalised suggestions and actions to help you stay on top of things.
Security
Fingerprint sensor location, type	Goodix under glass
Face ID	2D
Comment	I am beginning to enjoy using Nothing OS 3.2. At first, I thought it was a bit ‘wanky,’ but a lot of thought has gone into adding value to Android 15 and beyond.

CMF Phone 2 Pro camera – Exceed

50+8+50MP main, ultrawide and telephoto are unheard of at this price. The primary sensor is the Samsung GN9, which is designed for lower-cost and thinner phones. It is the workhorse and behaves very well. CMF saves money by using GalaxyCore and Omnivision sensors for the rest, and these are fit for purpose

It takes excellent, detailed, natural colour shots in good light. It does not have OIS (optical image stabilisation) but EIS (electronic image stabilisation) crops the image to help smooth out the shakes.

2X Optical and 20X hybrid digital zoom is also very good, but EIS reaches its limit at about 10X.

4K@30fps video is OK, but scale back to 1080p@30fps and you get EIS support.

We do a point-and-shoot camera review because that is how Joe and Jan Average use it. For a more detailed camera review, go here.  

Camera test shots

Camera Specs

Rear Primary	Wide
MP	50MP bins to 12.5MP
Sensor	Samsung S5KGN9
Focus	PDAF
f-stop	1.88
um	1 bins to 2
FOV° (stated, actual)	72.5 to 85.1°
Stabilisation	EIS
Zoom	10X digital
Rear 2	Ultra-wide
MP	8MP
Sensor	GalaxyCore GC08A8
Focus	Fixed
f-stop	2.2
um	1.12
FOV (stated, actual)	119.5°
Stabilisation	No
Zoom	No
Rear 3	Telephoto
MP	50MP
Sensor	Omnivision OV50D
Focus	PDAF
f-stop	1.85
um	.612 bins to 1.22
FOV (stated, actual)	Not stated
Stabilisation	EIS
Zoom	2X Optical and 20X digital
Special	The camera app is basic. Night mode is automatic. There are photo, portrait, video, and slow-mo options, as well as time-lapse, pano, and expert. It uses Google Photos as storage.
Video max	4K@30fps 1080p@30fps EIS stereo recording
Flash	Single
Auto-HDR	Yes
	Ultra XDR Auto Tone Portrait Optimiser Motion Photo Night Mode
QR code reader	Yes
Night mode	Yes
DXO Mark	No
Comment	It is a basic point-and-shoot camera that is good in daylight, adequate in office light, and works well in auto night mode. The dynamic range and HDR details are quite good. That comes down to the three-sensor setup. The primary 50MP does all the work, leaving the secondary 8MP ultra-wide for one job only. The telephoto is a real bonus at this price.

CMF Phone 2 Pro Front Camera

Binning a 16MP to 4MP may seem extreme, but the processed results are pretty good. It tends to soften the shot. It is for single/double selfies.

Front	Selfie
MP	16MP bins to 4MP
Sensor	GalaxyCore GC16B
Focus	Fixed
f-stop	2
um	1 bins to 2
FOV (stated, actual)	70.5 to 83°
Stabilisation	No
Flash	Screen fill
Zoom	Crop factor 7.5x
Video max	1080p@30fps
Features	Decent if soft colours

CyberShack’s view: CMF Phone 2 Pro is a fully featured, well-priced, mid-range

There is nothing like the $449 CMF Phone 2 Pro by Nothing in the <$500 bracket, although I recommend you spend $509 for the 256GB version.

It has strong competition from the $499 OPPO Reno 15 F (review soon), so we cannot declare a winner yet.

But on a speed and feed basis, this is the class leader, and any foibles are easy to live with. As mentioned earlier, the sound is passable (wear earphones), Wi-Fi is slow (not for power users), and it is only for city and suburb reception.

It is also not an AI phone, which means that 99% of us will be very happy. Read Smartphone buying patterns are changing – AI is not the driver!

CMF Phone 2 Pro ratings

Ratings	Pass is 70/100
Features	85
	It has everything you need, but add the 10-bit AMOLED and Telephoto camera, and it becomes one of the most fully featured phones at this price.
Value	85
	At $449, it is the class leader in the $400-499 bracket, substantially eclipsing the Samsung A26.
Performance	85
	On speeds and feeds, it is not quite performance class-leading, but not far off.
Ease of Use	85
	Once you get used to Nothing OS 3.2 and its iconography, it is easy. Pure Android 15 with a quirky font! Add a two-year warranty, two OS upgrades, and six years of security patches, and you cannot go wrong.
Design	85
	I don’t mind the design language – you are either going to love it or hate it.
Rating out of 10	85
Final comment	Throughout the test, I kept asking how CMF by Nothing could offer such features at such a low price and kept looking for the downsides. There were not many and no deal-breakers.

Pro
1	Great, bright, colour accurate 10-bit AMOLED screen and no PWM.
2	Interesting design
3	Micro-SD slot
4	Good battery life
5	Interesting UI over pure Android adds value.
Con
1	Only a city/suburbs phone antenna strength
2	No charger inbox
3	Sound is not for music.
4	Slow Wi-Fi
5