Went hands-on with Nothing's CMF Phone 2 Pro, and who said budget phones can't be fun

A "Lego-like" phone has been every nerd's dream ever since Project Ara was announced back in 2013. Sadly, Ara met its end in 2016, and we've spent the past decade still hoping for a phone that lets us swap out screens, batteries, cameras, and whatnot. Of course, that kind of true plug-and-play modularity would wreak havoc on the business model of phone manufacturers, why buy a whole new handset when you could just swap a component once a year (or once a month, if boredom strikes)? That's almost certainly why Ara never materialised.

That said, modular phones do and did exist, but not in the way we originally imagined. Fairphone is still trying; LG and Motorola tried, yet never really caught on. Now, years later, Nothing is trying something similar with its sub-brand, wisely named CMF . Yes, it's the same Nothing known for phones with blinking LEDs. While the company says CMF largely focuses on playing with colour, material, and finish (hence the name), it's also where they're exploring this modular phone concept.

Last year, the ₹15,000 (or $200) CMF Phone 1 sold 100,000 units, that too, within three hours of launch, so there's clearly demand. Now, about a year later, the brand is back with a sequel, and it's been upgraded to "Pro" status. The Phone 2 Pro arrives at ₹18,999 (about $250). The slight price hike comes with a tad better specs: a 6.77-inch 120 Hz AMOLED screen, a 5,000 mAh battery, and a trio of rear cameras. Sadly, these components aren't modular.




What’s modular here is that look at the screws on the back. Unscrew them, and you can attach a small but respectable array of accessories—camera lenses, a kickstand-card wallet, or a lanyard. The system hinges on two pieces: the round mount at the bottom and a universal cover that screws onto the phone's back. If you're familiar with CMF Phone 1, you'll immediately understand what's going on here.




Even though the concept is familiar, Nothing's approach is a little different this time around. Phone 1 let you swap out the entire back case—perfect since you could take out the whole plastic shell and replace it with another one if you broke it or got bored with it. On Phone 2 Pro, that isn't an option anymore: you're stuck with the cover you choose, and if it breaks, you'll need to visit a repair shop. Nothing says they ditched the removable backplate to make the phone thinner and more water-resistant. Compromises have to be made, right? I do have mixed feelings about this trade-off, but more on that later.



With the universal cover in place, you get mounting points for the new lenses and the kickstand-card wallet. There's a MagSafe-style magnetic ring that you can see when you flip around the case, which keeps accessories firmly attached—though it sadly doesn't support wireless charging.





While I'm not a huge fan of the kickstand-card wallet, it’s quite generic, and you'll find dozens of cases with this design in the market, the lenses are where things get interesting. External phone lenses aren't new—you'll find hundreds of clip-on lenses on shopping sites—but they've mostly remained niche accessories. Why? Picture quality often suffers, and the good ones are expensive and limited to iPhones, Pixels, or Galaxies. No one thought to make them for budget phones, until Nothing did.




Nothing is selling a pack of two lenses that includes a fisheye and a macro lens, each snapping neatly into the cover's enclosure. I found myself using the macro lens most. Budget phones usually fake macro shots with low-res ultra-wides or tiny sensors, and the results are awful. With Nothing's clip-on macro, you can shoot at the phone's full 50MP resolution and get detail you simply don't see on other budget phones. And, you get a total of five lenses with these two add-ons.




The only other Nothing-made accessory is the lanyard: screw it into the bottom mount and sling your phone around your neck. I tried it and got a few curious glances, but roaming hands-free was fun.

Nothing also hopes the 3D-print community that sprang up around Phone 1 will return with quirky, useful screw-on mods for Phone 2 Pro. So far, Nothing itself hasn't released many new accessories in a year, nor maintained backward compatibility with Phone 1, but that openness could let third-party creators take the reins.




All told, CMF phones aren't exactly the fully modular phones we once dreamed of, but they're the most practical, playful concept we've seen in years. In 2025, at least, with the Phone 2 Pro, Nothing is giving us a fresh taste of what true customisation could look like and how phones can still be fun without emptying your whole wallet for it.


As for the Phone 2 Pro itself, it's a well-done budget phone. I've been using it for a few days now, and I rarely felt like complaining, except when I was unscrewing the screws. They are ever so tiny, and the minuscule screwdriver with a SIM-ejector pin on its other end doesn’t really help. Also, if you’re clumsy like me, be prepared to lose out on the screws (thankfully, there is an extra set of screws with the universal covers and that covered me up).




Back to the phone: it's been smooth so far. The screen is big, vivid, and bright; NothingOS is great as usual; and the battery easily lasts over a day. Nothing is also bringing its AI-powered Essential Space from the more expensive Phone 3(a)s, along with the Essential Key. The cameras don't need to be great at this price point—just good, and they are—though the colour algorithms could use some fine-tuning.

All this comes at Rs 18,999 or Rs 20,999, depending on whether you choose 128 GB or 256 GB of storage. The accessories cost extra, and should come out some time “soon,” says Nothing. The prices for these accessories remain unknown for now.