Nothing was India’s fastest-growing smartphone brand in Q2 2026, posting 105% year-on-year growth according to Counterpoint Research, driven by the Phone (4a) series and the company’s title sponsorship of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru during the IPL 2026. While the India numbers are real, they are also incomplete.
Digit has learned from multiple sources that Nothing is simultaneously contracting its global footprint, cutting headcount and managing internal financial strain. Things are so dire that the company is planning to exit from a dozen countries over the next few weeks.
According to information Digit has independently confirmed, Nothing is in the process of shutting down in 12 or more global markets. The exits include the Middle East, Japan and parts of Europe. In addition, global headcount is being reduced by 40% and the company’s R&D unit, which is split 70:30 between China and London, is facing layoffs of around 50% and 30 to 40% respectively.
The Phone (4b) has shipped approximately 20,000 units globally since launch, while the Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro have together reached around 150,000 units. Nothing sold approximately 2 million units globally in 2025 but sustaining that base in 2026 is harder as memory prices have risen approximately four times since September 2025 according to Counterpoint Research and the resulting price hikes have weakened consumer demand across the board. Nothing is not insulated from those pressures. Global shipment volumes are under strain and in a market where the mass segment has effectively collapsed, brands that operate at lower price points are feeling it most sharply.
CMF, Nothing’s sub-brand built around devices priced under Rs 30,000, has no new smartphone planned for 2026. Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis confirmed this publicly saying, “We were working on a successor, but with memory prices where they are right now, we can’t build a phone that feels like a genuine step forward at a price that makes sense for CMF.”
CMF’s entire identity was built on delivering well-designed, feature-rich hardware in the sub-Rs 20,000 bracket, a segment Counterpoint says fell 45% year on year in Q2 2026 alone. The economics of that segment have been broken by memory costs. As such, CMF cannot price a successor where it needs to be without either gutting the specification or absorbing losses it cannot absorb. The result is that at least one device originally planned for CMF has been moved to the main Nothing brand, where a higher price point is more defensible. But it leaves CMF as a brand without a hero product for the foreseeable future.
Himanshu Tandon, the executive who built CMF into one of the more talked-about challenger brands in the affordable segment, has also stepped down. His exit, combined with the product freeze, is now an uphill battle and it remains to be seen how CMF maintains any commercial momentum through the rest of 2026.
The Counterpoint data carries a footnote that Nothing’s 105% growth figure excludes CMF, its sub-brand, which spun off as a separate entity in 2025. The growth being measured is Nothing the brand alone, concentrated primarily in the Phone (4a) series. In absolute terms, that is still a very small volume for a brand competing in India’s mid-range segment as opposed to a global backdrop where shipment totals are declining alongside the broader market.
Nothing has so far navigated this environment better than most in India, benefiting from the premium perception of its hardware design, the RCB association and a relatively loyal user base. But the 105% growth number is a year-on-year rate on a small base, not evidence of scale and the global trajectory points in the opposite direction.
The company is concentrating its resources on fewer markets, a smaller team and a narrower product scope. Whether India’s momentum is enough to sustain the brand through a period of global contraction is the more relevant question, one that the next two quarters will begin to answer.
Digit has reached out to Nothing for comment and will update this story if a response is received.
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