The Rare Phone Worth More Than Its Price

As premium phones continue to go up in cost, the CMF Phone 2 Pro shows that buying one is largely unnecessary. It has its shortcomings, but for the price, they are far fewer than you’d expect.

Brand

CMF

SoC

MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G

Display

6.77″ 120Hz AMOLED

RAM

6GB/8GB

The CMF Phone 2 Pro sets a new standard for sub-$300 phones. With a distinct look, modular accessories, and competent performance, this is an easy phone to love. That’s not to say everything is perfect, with the location of the Essential Key in particular prone to frustrate many buyers. 

Pros & Cons

• A visual design that’s all its own
• Still works with some accessories from the original CMF Phone
• Excellent value for the money

• The Essential Key resides where the power button usually rests
• Modularity now requires an optional universal cover

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Price and Availability

The CMF Phone 2 Pro comes in two versions with different amounts of storage: 128GB and 256GB. Both have 8GB of RAM and cost under $300. You can get the phone in four colors: black, white, red, and green (though green isn’t currently listed on the US site).

Same Vibe, But Different

The original CMF Phone wasn’t just competent and cheap. It captured attention with a modular design that made the device novel, even if the accessories weren’t particularly practical. In addition to a removable back, there was a fidget spinner wheel where you could attach a lanyard, connect a small phone stand, or attach a phone wallet. The phone also came with a back panel held down by four screws, the removal of which unfortunately did not allow for a readily swappable battery.

The Phone 2 Pro continues this modularity but takes a different approach. First-gen accessories remain compatible, thanks to the return of the threaded mount in the bottom corner. Here you can attach a lanyard, for example, which has a very secure connection. Just be careful when taking it off. I forgot to unclasp the lanyard before twisting and have already broken mine.

The back is no longer removable. Instead, there is an optional back plate known as the Universal Cover that you can screw onto the phone, giving you the option to attach new accessories, such as macro and fish eye lenses or a combination wallet and stand held in place by MagSafe-style magnets embedded into the case. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sent any of these components to review.

The downside of this backplate is that it only comes in white and isn’t transparent, so you’ll have to miss out on much of the phone’s charm if you want to use all the accessories. And while I can’t say that charm is for everyone, it’s still striking. The Phone 2 Pro is not translucent like the more expensive phones from Nothing, nor do Nothing’s CMF phones come with glyph lights—yet the quirky industrial vibe is just as present.

Even with the phone’s modularity, it’s that vibe that makes me want to carry this phone around. Sure, specs matter, but like many people, I purchase a phone based on how it looks. But while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 that serves as my daily driver is striking in a neutral way, the CMF Phone 2 Pro’s look is anything but neutral.

A Screen With Even Bezels

As notable as the accessories are, you could take or leave them. The screen is what you’re actually going to use, and like with the first version of this phone, it does not disappoint.

While bezels don’t stand out to everyone, the fact that they’re even all the way around the display is the most standout improvement over the original. That adds one fewer reason to have to consider a more expensive phone.

The screen is a hair larger than last year’s phone, coming in at 6.77 inches compared to 6.67. This results in slightly fewer pixels per inch, since the ever-so-slightly reduced resolution of 1080 x 2392 is now stretched across more space. Yet is this a change you’re likely to notice? Unless you’re holding both phones side-by-side, unlikely, and even if you were, probably not.

The reported peak brightness has jumped to 3000 nits from 2000 nits. Holding it up next to my Z Fold 6 in the sun, they’re both similarly bright. I don’t have a noticeably easier time reading either one, which is a stellar thing to say about a phone that costs 1/7th the price of the other.

Reliable Performance, But Don’t Push It

The MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro processor found in this phone, despite the addition of the word “Pro” to the name, is virtually the same as last year’s chip. Yet for many of the people in my life, I’d say that’s just fine. This chip is more than capable of sending off messages, browsing the web, turn-by-turn navigation, and streaming YouTube.

Navigating CMF’s default launcher, which is largely the same as what you get on a Nothing Phone, is very responsive. The optimization here results in a phone that feels faster than its specs might suggest.

Can I tell it’s not a flagship phone? Sure, but only because I use one every day and continued to go back and forth between them during this review. I can’t help it, since my phone is also my PC. But were I strictly carrying around this one phone, hopping between it and my old Linux PC, I would be blown away by how much faster this feels for so much less money.

This phone isn’t limited to just the basics either. Most mobile games are calibrated towards older, low-end chips, so the CMF Phone 2 Pro can play the overwhelming majority of games just fine. You shouldn’t have any problem making it through the three years that this phone receives official software support. If you want to use your phone for longer than that, you’re better served by Samsung’s cheapest phones.

A Non-Essential Key

The most distinctive software change is the addition of the Essential Space, an area of your phone reserved for storing information you wish to remember in various formats. You can take a screenshot and add a note underneath, or you can save voice recordings connected to images.

You save information to the Essential Space by holding down the Essential Key, which instantly takes a screenshot and prompts you to add context.

I rather like the Essential Space, and I could see myself using it were I to commit to this phone long-term. Yet the Essential Key is my biggest gripe with this phone. It’s placed directly below the power button, directly where you expect the power button to be. A few weeks into using the phone, I still press the Essential Key unintentionally all the time. If the intention here were to make sure you don’t forget the Essential Space exists, then mission accomplished—but it doesn’t help the experience for me to associate it with annoyance, and I spend much of my time in the Essential Space deleting unintended screenshots.

Battery That’s Great, Charging That’s Fine

The CMF Phone 2 Pro packs a massive 5000 mAh battery, and when paired with a lower-powered processor, is every bit as stellar as you would expect it to be. I’ve spent very little of my time with this phone, even aware that it’s something that needs to be charged.

That’s a good thing, considering the phone lacks wireless charging. I prefer wired charging, but I have a coupleof wireless chargers in enough places that I would plop this phone down on before remembering that nothing’s going to happen.

The wired charging speed isn’t going to blow you away if you’re familiar with Moto and OnePlus phones that can be had for not much more than a CMF Phone. Yet the speeds will feel just fine if you’re coming from a phone from Apple, Google, or Samsung. This budget phone’s 33W charging is faster than the 25W charging on my Z Fold 6, and you can fit an entire Galaxy S25 Ultra in the price difference between these two phones. The CMF Phone 2 Pro also offers 5W reverse wired charging, which may be enough to top up a smartwatch, but don’t think of using it to help charge another phone. You’ll wait hours with little to show for it.

A Competent Camera

Like most budget phones nowadays, the CMF Phone 2 Pro comes with good camera hardware to work with. You have a 50MP main shooter, which is on par with most phones on the market. The 50MP telescope lens is a nice addition that most phones lack, but the optical zoom only extends to 2x. Any further and you’re back to digital zoom. The third 8MP camera is the biggest disappointment on the hardware front. It’d be nice if that at least matches the 16MP camera on the front.

On smartphones, it’s at the software level where most of the work gets done, and here you can see the phone remains a beat behind more expensive phones. While the camera does a great job with the main shooter in good lighting, macro photography feels highly processed. The selfie shooter is adequate for everyday use between friends, though not quite what I’d want to turn to for professional work. That said, I’ve turned to CMF Phone 2 Pro for some photos I’ve taken for How-To Geek, including the featured image for my piece contemplating what qualifies as a PC.

The camera remains a valid reason to consider paying top dollar for a smartphone. Yet I do feel the majority of people will be just fine with the images coming out of this device.

Should You Buy The CMF Phone 2 Pro?

If you want even bezels but aren’t feeling CMF Phone 2 Pro’s design, you could opt for Google’s Pixel 9a instead. That will cost you over $200 more, but you’re still far removed from a grand. If, on the other hand, you do like Nothing’s vibe but want just a little bit more umph, Nothing Phone 3a is a valid choice at $380.

Yet, were my workflow not so built around using a foldable with a stylus, and all I needed was a phone to do basic phone stuff, I’d be hard-pressed to justify spending more on a phone than this.

Brand

CMF

SoC

MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G

Display

6.77″ 120Hz AMOLED

RAM

6GB/8GB

The CMF Phone 2 Pro sets a new standard for sub-$300 phones. With a distinct look, modular accessories, and competent performance, this is an easy phone to love. That’s not to say everything is perfect, with the location of the Essential Key in particular prone to frustrate many buyers.