CMF's Himanshu Tandon Announces Exit Weeks After Firm Confirms 2026 Phone Strategy

Nothing, the Carl Pei-led tech firm, spun off its sub-brand CMF in September last year. Its erstwhile subsidiary was then registered as an independent in India, with its headquarters in Gurugram, Haryana. Months before the announcement, CMF appointed Himanshu Tandon, a veteran executive in the smartphone industry, to spearhead the brand's business operations in the country. Now, less than a year after joining CMF by Nothing, the company executive has announced his exit from the company. Tandon formerly worked with Xiaomi India and its sub-brand. His exit coincides with the brand's decision not to launch a new phone this year, while reportedly handing over existing projects to Nothing.

Himanshu Tandon Exits CMF India Less Than a Year After He Joined the Firm

In a post on LinkedIn on Thursday, CMF's Tandon announced that he has resigned from his position of Vice President, Business at the firm. On his exit, the outgoing company executive said, “After an incredible journey at Nothing, I've decided to move on. I joined because I believed in an idea—that India has the talent, ambition, and capability to build technology brands admired across the world.”

Interestingly, Tandon has announced his exit from the firm nearly 10 months after he joined CMF India in August last year. The company has yet to name his successor. “I'm grateful to my colleagues, partners, creators, media friends, and everyone who has been part of this journey. I sincerely wish the entire Nothing team continued success in what lies ahead,” Tandon said.

While he did not reveal his next move, a Smartprix report claims, citing people familiar with the matter, that his next assignment will be “substantially larger” than the operating responsibilities Tandon has previously held.

Before CMF India, Tandon worked with Poco India, which he joined in January 2021 as the firm's sales lead. He held the position for nearly a year and six months before he was promoted to the position of Country Head of India of Poco India. Tandon said that he scaled the company's sales to 8.6 million and that under his leadership, Poco India was the "fastest growing brand in 2023 and 2024”.

He started his journey in the smartphone industry with Xiaomi India, which he joined in August 2017 as a Key Account Manager. During his tenure at Xiaomi India, he also held the positions of Project Manager of New Retail and National Program Manager, before leaving the company in December 2020.

The news of Tandon's exit comes weeks after CMF announced that it has delayed the launch of the CMF Phone 2 Pro successor, while also revealing that the company will not launch new phones this year, citing the ongoing shortage of memory and storage components. A report highlighted that CMF had transferred all its existing smartphone projects to Nothing.