Just weeks after OnePlus announced its exit from the US and several European markets as part of a major restructuring, Nothing is now reportedly preparing to withdraw from multiple markets as well.
Information acquired by Digit suggests that Nothing could be shutting down in 12 markets, including Japan, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. To survive the downturn, the company's management is slashing global headcount by 40%.
Its research and development hubs will be absorbing the most amount of blow, shedding up to half their China staff and about 30-40% of their head office in London.
The core trigger for this is the brutal situation around component costs, especially due to the ongoing RAM crisis. This recently led Nothing to freeze the CMF Phone 3 Pro launch and reassign the planned hardware to its primary Nothing lineup with the Phone 4b.
This pivot also claimed executive leadership, with CMF chief Himanshu Tandon departing the company. Volume metrics further paint the picture behind this move, as the brand's latest Nothing Phone 4b has only sold 20,000 units. Besides, its fairly bigger cousin that launched earlier this year posted 1,50,000 shipments.
This is a far cry from the 2 million units Nothing sold globally in 2025. With its operational footprint shrinking, the startup's entire future now depends on India. The brand's India sales will now determine if it can function as a fundamentally scaled-back brand.
The brand recently celebrated its staggering 105% year-on-year surge in Q2 2026, as per a Counterpoint Research report. So, there's still some hope there.
While Nothing is yet to comment on the exit, tipster Yogesh Brar said in an X post that the brand will not launch any new smartphone for the rest of 2026. The brand already confirmed that the flagship Nothing Phone (4) launch is cancelled for this year, as it will focus on mid-range and budget smartphones.
We appreciated Nothing for knowing when to sit one out and tagged it as a solid move, but this move was quite uncalled for. It tells us how bad the market situation is due to the RAM crisis, which is exactly why we think the great smartphone reset is upon us.
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