You can't buy this new Nothing Phone design but you'll wish you could

Nothing's budget-friendly CMF brand is known for its tight industrial design, but this concept of a CMF Phone Mini isn't something you can buy – it's design porn only, for now, but what a phone it is.

CMF's designs are at the opposite end of the spectrum to the likes of Samsung with its seamless elegance. Instead, the sub-brand is about showing you the practical parts of the design, like the screws, bolts and panels that make up the phone.

Some of this is geared towards a sense of sustainability. If users can easily remove the back of the phone and change the battery for example, without reaching for heat guns, picks and spudgers, then it can be made to last a lot longer.

Picking up on CMF's design trends, CMF community member Preet Ajmeri has devised a design for a CMF Phone Mini. Embracing the lost category of compact phones, we get a dual camera device with a two-tone rear and CMF's signature corner accessory point.

It's a phone that looks rugged (you'll also find exposed bolt heads in a latest Land Rover) while the colours have a retro charm to them, especially two-tone brown.

10 years ago, I'd have mocked a brown phone (unless it was leather like the LG G4), but now this looks like a piece of vintage Braun design and I love it (thanks to Yanko Design for the inspiration on that reference).

While the design has made this for visual impact (with no reference to what size the display might be), the interesting thing is the community comments that follow. Fans talk about being happy to trade cameras – dropping macro for a good main and ultrawide camera – while others highlight that recent advancements in silicon-carbon battery tech as being able to supply the power.

Mini phones have essentially ceased to exist over the past few years. Apple's iPhone Mini 13 was launched in 2021 and was the last of the range. Compact full-power Android devices have also become increasingly rare. Sony's Xperia line was great for such devices, but even the Xperia 5 has been discontinued.

At the end of its life even the Xperia 5 V had a 6.1-inch display, which isn't small by any measure: until recently, that was the same size as the iPhone 16 or Galaxy S23, with recent models expanding to be larger. Phones down at 5.8-inches are now a thing of the past.

For now, this is a Nothing concept than no one will be able to buy. Given how badly small phones sell, if there was to be a CMF Phone inspired by this concept, it would likely be larger, more like the current CMF models at around 6.6 inches.