Nothing sold nearly 30,000 Phone (4b) units in a single day, according to its own co-founder. That’s the headline figure being used to push back against a report that paints a very different picture of where the company stands right now.
Digit published a story citing multiple sources that claimed Nothing is pulling out of more than a dozen global markets, including Japan, the Middle East, and parts of Europe, while cutting global headcount by around 40 percent. The R&D operation, split between London and China, reportedly faced cuts of 30 to 40 percent and 50 percent respectively. On top of that, Digit’s sources put cumulative Phone (4b) shipments at roughly 20,000 units globally since launch, and flagged that CMF, Nothing’s budget sub-brand, has no new smartphone planned for 2026.
Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis denied the report on X, calling it outright fake news and taking aim at its specifics. His counterpoint on the sales figures is striking: 29,537 units sold on day one alone, which he described as a record for the Phone (4b)’s price segment. That number sits well above Digit’s total since launch, though it’s worth being precise here. Digit’s figure is cumulative since launch; Evangelidis’s is for a single day. They’re not measuring the same thing. Still, the gap is too large to wave away.
So what’s actually happening inside Nothing? Both sides agree on more than the back-and-forth suggests. There is a restructuring. Jobs are being affected. CMF is in a holding pattern with no new phone confirmed this year. And Himanshu Tandon, who led CMF, has stepped down, something Evangelidis did not dispute.
Where the accounts split is on the scale and what to call it. Evangelidis says Nothing is not exiting any markets. Instead, he describes a reorganisation into regional hubs and new business units, including an AI-focused unit, designed to set the company up for its next phase of growth. He acknowledged that some roles have been affected but said the headcount numbers in the report were significantly exaggerated. He also made a point of saying the company doesn’t take decisions about people’s livelihoods lightly.
The context here matters. Nothing launched into a smartphone market that’s getting harder for smaller brands to survive, especially at lower price points. Counterpoint Research has noted that memory prices have risen roughly fourfold since September 2025, which squeezes exactly the kind of budget-to-mid-range devices Nothing and CMF depend on. CMF’s product freeze isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s a direct response to a cost environment that makes building a competitively priced phone genuinely difficult right now.
Nothing has grown fast since Carl Pei founded it in 2020, carving out a niche with design-forward phones and a vocal fanbase. But being a challenger brand with strong aesthetics and a cult following only gets you so far when component costs spike and the big players have more room to absorb the hit. Some form of consolidation was probably inevitable.
The real question isn’t whether there’s turbulence at Nothing. There clearly is. The question is whether this is a brand tightening its belt to stay competitive, or something more serious. Right now, the honest answer is that we don’t fully know. Digit says it reached out to Nothing before publishing and will update its story if it gets a response. We’ll be watching for more details from either side.