GoKawiilRipple effect: The RAMpocalypse has claimed another victim. Nothing has confirmed that its next budget phone, a follow-up to the CMF Phone 2 Pro, will not launch this year. The company confirmed the cancellation is because of skyrocketing memory prices that are disrupting the tech industry in a way not seen since Covid.
Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis, the executive behind the CMF line, said the firm had been working on a successor to the CMF Phone 2 Pro, but current memory costs made the device impossible to release without undermining the point of the brand.
"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. As a result, we've decided not to launch a new CMF phone this year," Evangelidis wrote in an X post.
– Akis Evangelidis (@AkisEvangelidis) June 19, 2026
The decision doesn't mean CMF phones are dead forever. Evangelidis added that CMF still has other products coming this year, including devices in entirely new categories, while Nothing's smartphone launch plans are continuing.
CMF is Nothing's budget-focused sub-brand. Android Authority notes that the CMF Phone 2 Pro launched in India at Rs. 18,999 (~$200) for the 8GB/128GB model and Rs. 20,999 (~$222) for the 8GB/256GB version, with the latter also reaching the US at $279. Evangelidis said that launching the same hardware today would push the price to around Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000, or roughly $318 to $370.
Nothing CEO Carl Pei warned last week that the memory crisis is spreading quickly across the phone market. He said memory costs for the Phone (4a) doubled between development and launch, then doubled again afterward. He added that RAM is now more expensive than the processor or display and can account for more than half of a smartphone's hardware bill.
"Phone prices are going up, and they'll keep going up into next year. Since February, new phones have been launching up to $100 more expensive than their predecessors," Pei wrote in an X post.
– Carl Pei (@getpeid) June 12, 2026
The CMF cancellation is another sign that RAMageddon continues affecting consumer products beyond PC components. Tim Cook recently confirmed that Apple price hikes are coming as iPhones could jump by $200 or more, MSI blamed memory and storage costs for its $1,800 Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld, and the wider memory crisis resurrecting DDR4 production and older GPUs. When will things get better? Not anytime soon, sadly, according to most estimations.