Pros Quirky design and robust buildSpeedy performance for daily tasksGreat cameras for the priceNothingOS 3 offers a bloat-free and stable experienceNice AMOLED panelNFC supportReasonable battery life Cons Poor quality mono speakerCameras lack OISModularity of the backplate implementation is a step backwardsEssential Space AI is underdeveloped CMF Phone 2 Pro Specs Battery Size: 5000mAh Camera Resolution: 50MP main, 50MP telephoto, 8MP ultra-wide; 16MP selfie CPU: MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro Dimensions: 164 x 78 x 7.8 mm GPU: Mali-G615 MC2 Operating System: Android 15, NothingOS 3.2 Screen Resolution: 1080 x 2392 pixels Screen Size: 6.77" Screen Type: AMOLED Weight 185g All Specs Table of ContentsAvailability and Pricing in the UAE and Saudi ArabiaDesign and FeaturesAccessoriesCamerasPerformance and Battery LifeThe Verdict The CMF Phone 1, released last year, offered an interesting take on what one could consider an ultra-budget smartphone. While it also focused on specs, and the screen, and all of the smattering of things that become a bullet point list in a press release, it also introduced a unique modularity to it with the help of accessories. What’s more, the accessories were fairly priced too, offering budget conscious users a cheap but solid phone and a chance to spruce their device up in different ways. Needless to say, the phone was an immediate success. And for good reason - there was nothing like it on the market, and there still isn’t. CMF Phone 2 Pro, then, builds on that formula and Nothing once again nails the basics. What you get is a sleek-looking, speedy and bloatfree budget phone that is far better value than its competitors. And it’s also a reasonable jump on the spec-sheet too (albeit at a slightly higher price tag) - you get a slightly faster processor, 50MP main and tele lens and an 8MP wide-angle module, a brighter AMOLED panel with thinner bezels, IP54 protection, NFC support (yay!), and even the Essential Space AI introduced with the Nothing 3a series. It’s not without its drawbacks, though. It still retains the poor quality mono speaker, the triple-camera setup lacks OIS, and I personally don’t like how the modularity of the backplate has been implemented this time around. But hey, these are smaller issues when you see the price tag (AED 799), and pound for pound, there is nothing quite as good and feature-rich as the CMF Phone 2 Pro. Availability and Pricing in the UAE and Saudi Arabia The CMF Phone 2 Pro will be available in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern regions from May 22, 2025 through nothing.tech and other retail partners. The pricing of the devices and accessories are as follows: CMF Phone 2 Pro 8GB+128GB - AED 799/SAR 799 CMF Phone 2 Pro 8GB+256GB - AED 1049/SAR 999 CMF Buds 2 - AED 169/SAR169 CMF Buds 2 Plus - AED 199/SAR 199 CMF Buds 2a - AED 129/SAR 129 Universal Cover - AED 129/SAR 149 Interchangeable Lenses (Fisheye and Macro) - AED 169/SAR 189 each Wallet/Stand - AED 169/SAR 189 Design and Features The CMF Phone 2 Pro comes in a few different colorways, including black, white, green, and the classic orange, which now comes in a dual-tone finish. The two-tone design serves no purpose other than aesthetic differentiation from the previous version, and neither does it indicate MagSafe or wireless charging support (it has neither of those). In fact, to the uninitiated, it might appear to be a flip phone with how the two variations of the colors are exactly split in the middle. The design won’t win over those not already enamoured by the original. It still retains the sort of ‘industrial’ look with visible screws, which not everyone would vibe with (I am sort of split in the middle, to be honest), but at least it’s as robust as the original and doesn’t feel cheaply made. The back panel is all plastic but has an aluminium makeover that feels much more premium to the touch than the price would suggest, and in hands, coupled with the lightweight body (185g), it feels really good. The phone is also slimmer by a hairline. CMF Phone 2 Pro comes in at 7.8mm - the thinnest phone from Nothing so far - while the original clocked in at 8.2mm. It’s not something you will immediately notice, but it does bring a marginal benefit in terms of dust and water protection. While the CMF Phone 1 was IP52 rated, the new model is IP54 rated, where the phone can now take water splashes from all directions (although full submersion is not really recommended) instead of just at an angle. It’s another story that the reduction in size is entirely offset if you want to use any of the related accessories, which we will talk more about in the next segment. The CMF Phone 2 Pro also features a dedicated Essential Space button, Nothing's AI tool for capturing screenshots, attaching voice notes, and saving them as "memories" in a separate app. As previously mentioned in the Nothing 3a Pro review, Essential Space still feels underdeveloped. Its practical use remains unclear, and the integrated AI for understanding voice notes and creating beneficial programming from it is limited and ultimately serves little purpose. Since this is a “Pro” version of the CMF Phone, you get three cameras instead of two. You get a 50MP main and telephoto lens, along with an 8MP ultra-wide camera module, as compared to the original’s 50MP main lens plus 2MP depth. Sadly, it still doesn’t feature OIS so no baking while taking photos with these cameras. On the front you have the similar-sized 6.77” FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED panel as last year, but it has had some upgrades under the hood. Nothing opted for a flexible AMOLED panel, so you will get slightly thinner bezels on all sides. It’s also brighter at 3,000 nits (vs 2,000 nits) and features 10bit color, which are definitely nice to have. And it’s a good, high-end panel at that (although, it’s really hard to go wrong with OLED technology). The display manages to produce bright, clear, sharp and vibrant pictures which is great for consuming movies or playing games with. Using the phone under UAE’s cruel sun proved a non-issue, as well. Elsewhere, the hardware largely mirrors the previous model, featuring a 5,000mAh battery, 128GB or 256GB storage, 33W charging, and a disappointing single speaker. However, this iteration includes an upgraded 8GB of RAM. While this might seem modest, NothingOS 3.2's solid optimization ensures smooth performance for typical everyday tasks. Accessories As I said before, the new found slimness and improved ingress protection are entirely offset by how Nothing has approached the modularity of the device with the Phone 2 Pro. With the original version, you only needed to remove the circular knob at the bottom of the device to attach the accompanying accessories, or pluck out the screws to remove the entire backplate to customize the phone’s appearance to your liking. All of that is done away with, and instead, Nothing provides a Universal Cover at an additional cost (AED 129/SAR 149) that is required to support some of the new accessories available for the phone. This solution not only adds the thickness back to the device, but is also only available in a single color (white) which completely changes the look and feel of the device. It’s not only an aesthetic mismatch with the orange colorway, but the cover also doesn’t conform to the curves at the back and has a distinct plastic feel to it. This feels like a step backwards from what made the CMF Phone so unique among budget devices, and it doesn’t seem like - to me at least - that it was worth losing its core design quirk for slightly better protection. Regardless, tacking on the Universal Cover is rather easy (although we had to call forth the power of Thor to turn the circular knob loose). Once the knob is out, you can pluck out the screws with the included screwdriver, slap on the cover, and screw it back in place. With the cover on, you can use three of the available accessories. The first one is the Wallet and Stand (AED 169/SAR 189), although I fail to see the ‘wallet’ part of it. I mean, unless I am missing something, there is no place to put a credit card or money on this piece. If I add it to the top, everything would kind of stick out, and if I put it in the crease between the stand and the magnetic cover, everything would fall out if I open the stand? The stand part itself is decent, although it offers no tilt options, so it probably works best when it’s propped on a desk. At the very least, the magnet on the accessory is strong and doesn’t easily fall off.Recommended by Our Editors The second one is a lanyard ($16), which was also available for the CMF Phone. I honestly don’t see why anyone would want to tie their phone to a lanyard, especially at the length that Nothing provides. Seriously, the lanyard is massive, thick and bright, and if someone can pull this off with their attire, it would certainly be...a statement. Finally, and possibly the most sought after accessory will be the lens. There are two options - Macro Lens and Fish Eye lens, both of which cost AED 169/SAR 189 each. The latter provides a wider-angle shot with the characteristic curved effect for those that can be creative with such photography. The Macro Lens compensates for the lack of macro-mode in the phone, allowing extreme close-up photography. We will see how both of these work in the next segment. Cameras I was honestly surprised by how good the cameras on the CMF Phone 2 Pro performed, especially considering its paltry AED 799 price tag. While most phones in this price provide a single camera, Nothing has included three - a 50MP main lens, a 50MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom, and an 8MP wide-angle lens. It does lack Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), which is a bit of a bummer as taking blurry shots is all too easy and moving objects almost nearly impossible. Regardless, the main snapper produces sharp, vibrant and detailed pictures in daylight, while keeping the dynamic range and saturation well in control. Even upon scrutiny, there is hardly anything to fault - there were no hints of oversharpness or noise that are usually found on lower-quality cameras that rely a little too heavily on post-processing to push through. The 2x optical zoom produces a similar result, as well. It keeps the details and sharpness without introducing any artifacting or compression into the mix. The wide-angle pictures are decent. There is a hint of oversharpening, loss in quality and some soft imagery, and the obvious bandings on the sides, but it’s not too shabby. The portrait shots are average, too. While it produces a pleasant bokeh effect, and keeps the natural skin tone of the subject intact, there are very visible ragged edges around them. The camera also doesn’t retain a whole lot of detail, either. The main camera performs reasonably well in low-light conditions. It captures plenty of light, details and maintains a good handle over the colors. There isn't a whole lot of finer details, with some compression and noise visible. I also struggled to find focus on close-up shots under low-light (like the picture of the gaming mice below), where the camera would stay fixated over the foreground rather than on the subject I was presenting it to capture. Coming to two accessory lenses, they are as useful as you can make them out to be. I am not a creative photographer at all, so for my purposes, I don’t feel they add too much value. The Macro Lens is useful to take ultra-close-up shots of objects but since the cameras lack OIS and you can’t manually adjust the focus, it’s really hard to get the right subject in focus and requires a bit too much fiddling around to get a proper shot. The Fish Lens offers a wider angle of shot over the built-in wide-angle camera, although the focal point is much smaller. The picture still remains sharp and as good as the main camera can take them, with plenty of detail. If you can put it to good use, this lens accessory could be of good value. Performance and Battery Life The CMF Phone 2 Pro comes equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage (a 256GB version is available as well, along with the option to expand the storage with a microSD card). Benchmarks Score Geekbench 6 CPU - Single Core 1010 Geekbench 6 CPU - Multi Core 3007 Geekbench GPU 2502 Geekbench AI 2019 3DMark Steel Nomad Light 346 3Dmark Wild Life Extreme 853 3Dmark Sling Shot Extreme 5159 In terms of performance, the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro is not a top performer, but it’s no slouch either. But the smoothness of the device could be credited to the NothingOS 3.2, which has been thoroughly optimized for lower-end hardware. For daily tasks like doom scrolling on social media, typing out a few documents, chatting on messenger apps, taking a few photos, and more, the phone blazes through all of that without much trouble. You will find a few stutters here and there (especially while using the camera's viewfinder) though, but nothing that becomes a pain to deal with. NothingOS itself is a pleasure to use. The restraint of not filling a cheap phone with bloatware is commendable, but the entire experience is uncompromised even when compared to its slightly pricer alternatives like the newly released Nothing 3a series. You get exactly the same operating system, with the same features (barring the Glyphs, of course), and even the Essential Space AI feature (which also gets its own dedicated button). Unfortunately, much like the Nothing 3a Pro, the Essential Space app is still rather underbaked at the moment, with no particular clarity of what exactly it’s meant to be. You can press and hold the Essential Space button on the side to quickly capture whatever is on your screen, add a voice note about it, and have the AI process what you have said, produce a transcription, and make some sort of programming out of it (like setting reminders, etc). It’s supposed to be a collection of your memories throughout the day, but I found no purpose for it in my workflow and the UI is rather un-intuitive at the moment to really invest any time into it. As for the battery life, the CMF Phone 2 Pro packs your standard 5,000mAh battery, and lasts for over a day of general use, which is pretty reasonable. It only supports 33W wired charging (no wireless charging to be found here) so re-fueling might take longer than usual. The Verdict The CMF Phone 2 Pro might not be a perfect phone but any grievances are quietened by the ridiculously affordable price tag. For AED 799, you get a sleek and stylish device, that’s as speedy as any mid-range phone thanks to the well-oiled NothingOS 3.2, great cameras, and a bloat-free and stable experience that is far better than any of its competitors. I am not too fond of how Nothing has gone about with the modularity of the device, which sacrificed its unique quirk for mildly better protection and a slimmer body. It also feels a tad bit too microtransaction-heavy, eventually increasing the cost of the device, but thankfully, the accessories are not entirely essential to get the most out of the device. As such, if you are looking for an ultra-budget smartphone that is speedy, pleasant to use and feels good in the hands, there is nothing quite as good as the CMF Phone 2 Pro right now. Not for this price.