CMF Watch Pro, Buds Pro launch Nothing’s affordable sub-brand

Now that Nothing has hit its mid-range smartphone stride, the firm is aiming to make tech even more affordable. Its new CMF sub-brand has just launched its first trio of products: a smartwatch, a pair of earphones, and a multi-port power adapter. All three come in well under $100/£100, while putting a new spin on Nothing’s now-familiar industrial design.

CMF, short for colour/material/finish, was only announced a month ago by Nothing co-founder Carl Pei. It’ll be Nothing’s new value offering, which sounds tough given the firm’s two generations of smartphone and earbuds have always been fantastic value compared to their closest rivals.

One to watch

The CMF Watch Pro is the star of the show, being Nothing’s first ever smartwatch. The square-faced wearable has a 1.96in, 410×502 resolution AMOLED display set into an aluminium chassis, which comes in either Metallic Grey or Dark Grey colours. The trio of rubber wrist bands includes a fetching orange that gives off real Apple Watch Ultra vibes.

CMF says the battery is good for up to 13 days of health monitoring, with sensors for heart rate and SpO2 tracking as well as an accelerometer for step tracking. It can recognise over 100 different sports and activities, and the IP68 rating means it’ll cope just fine with a bit of sweat.

Smartwatch functions will be limited to Bluetooth calling, weather forecasts and controlling music playback, so it’s not going to rival more expensive wearables. The dozens of dot matrix-inspired watch faces could mean it has a more cohesive look, though. It also won’t leave much of a dent in your wallet, given it’s launching at $69/£69.

A budding romance

The Buds Pro tread more familiar ground for the firm, but do things their own way with opaque, rather than transparent, plastic. Black, white and orange colours make the grade, with all three promising hybrid active noise cancellation, wind reduction and transparency modes.

Dynamic drivers and an Ultra Bass setting in the Nothing X companion app should provide plenty of low-end oomph, and there’s enough battery inside for six and a half hours of music – or up to eleven hours of listening with ANC switched off.

A ten minute charge should be enough for five more hours of playback, and the flip-top charging case can bring the total listening time up to 39 hours (again, without ANC). There’s also Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, in-ear detection and built-in touch controls. The buds are IP54 sweat resistant, too.

They’ll set you back $49/£49, which is significantly less than Nothing’s Ear 2 or Ear Stick earphones.

Taking charge

CMF also looks to be taking on accessory makers including Anker with its CMF Power 65W GaN adapter. The compact power brick uses gallium nitride to keep size and weight in check, has twin USB-C ports and one type-A port for simultaneously charging multiple gadgets, and can supply a maximum 65W of juice. At $39/£39, it’s especially competitive for a multi-port charger.

All three new releases are set to go on sale through the cmf.tech and Nothing websites, as well as Nothing’s Soho store in London, from the 30th of September.

We like the idea of cheaper tech, but we can’t help but spot the similarities with OnePlus and its Nord sub-brand. Whether that’s a good move or not will have to wait until we try CMF’s first products in person.

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