The Genius Behind OnePlus And Nothing Carl Pei

Do you know about the genius behind OnePlus and Nothing Carl Pei? One of the smartphone makers who became popular by selling feature-packed phones. A college dropout who was always interested in tech.

Carl was always into something new when he was in school; he says, “he was the first kid to carry an iPod and iPhone.” The crazier point is he also had an Android phone called T-Mobile G1. In the process of returning from school as soon as possible, he felt bored with the old tech.

The day he felt bored with the old tech, he started his journey with a thought of “Innovation in Tech.” Let’s explore how a fanboy of tech turned into an innovator in tech.

Carl Pei’s Early Life

On 11th September 1989, Carl was born in Beijing, China. He was the first child of two Alzheimer researchers in an extended family; of course, he was loved and cared for by all.

In 1993, his father moved to the US for a research job. A year later, Carl and his mother followed in his footsteps. It wasn’t easy, though, as Carl recalls being bullied in school and having financial issues in the family.

The Genius Behind OnePlus And Nothing Carl Pei. Image Credit: Instagram.

Starting from scratch in a new country was never easy. His family didn’t have much money, as China was a poor country at the time. Pei faced another cultural shift three years later as they moved to Sweden.

After his journey, Pei learned how to earn money and dive into the innovative tech world as a teen or kid with a big brain.

Personal Journey

From the early stage of consciousness, Pei was always eager to earn money. He mentions that it all started when a teacher taught him HTML. Those were the exciting years of the Internet. Sergey Brin and Larry Page initiated Google as a research endeavor at Stanford.

This period also saw the establishment of the Internet Archive, Sony’s entry into the PC market with the launch of Vaio, and the introduction of the PNG file format.

The genius behind OnePlus and Nothing Carl Pei, established his first website at 12, based on walkthroughs to beat the Pokemon game. At 14, he had the world’s biggest website (Rebel Vers) for downloading games.

After completing high school at 15, he relocated to Guangdong province, a central electronics and communications manufacturing location in China, to investigate the market. Lacking expertise in business registration, Pei began exporting goods from China.

The genius behind OnePlus and Nothing, Carl Pei’s professional journey started right after that. He interviewed media on hot topics, converting them into opportunities according to his and his firm’s growth needs.

ALSO READ: Meet the Valve Co-Founder Gabe Newell: The Wealthiest Man In The Gaming Industry

Professional Journey: How It All Began

Pei began selling on the Swedish iteration of eBay and later expanded to eBay, catering to US and European customers. He also had a Swedish friend relocate to China to manage customer service.

Carl’s parents were unconvinced that this was a “proper job” and urged him to finish his studies. So, he returned to Sweden and attended the Stockholm School of Economics from 2008 to 2011. He wasn’t satisfied with the curriculum.

Being only focused on traditional topics like macroeconomics, microeconomics, and statistics. Throughout his three years there, he never explored e-commerce or global trade. Although he completed all his courses, he chose not to submit his thesis and receive a degree.

The Genius Behind OnePlus And Nothing Carl Pei. Image Credit: Instagram.

This is likely why his LinkedIn profile describes him as a college dropout. Pei also made a fansite for the smartphone manufacturer Meizu. It served as a global forum with over 70,000 users.

When Meizu was involved in a 2008 lawsuit with Apple regarding intellectual property rights, the Los Angeles Times interviewed Pei to represent Meizu fans worldwide. They lacked an international press office.” This drew Meizu’s attention, and in 2011, Pei joined the company in Hong Kong.

Pei wanted to expand internationally, so he spent a year managing international PR and marketing with the company.

Professional Journey: International Plan

In 2010, when he had already left Meizu, Pei was in talks with Oppo and Xiaomi. He decided to join Oppo in 2012. He stated Oppo was quite experienced in the manufacturing. They believed they needed a strategy to compete with Xiaomi’s business model, which was exclusively online then. Oppo, on the other hand, relied on traditional offline distribution.”

This led to the birth of OnePlus (co-founded with Pete Lau; the brand is currently a subsidiary of Oppo owned by BBK Electronics). OnePlus was created to challenge Xiaomi’s expansion in China. There was no initial global or international expansion plan, but he pitched his way into Oppo to take it internationally.

Pei was the person who built the firm Go International from scratch, from being a team of sales and marketing full of English teachers to striking a partnership with an American software company, Cyanogen.

The first OnePlus device in 2014 was shipped with CynaogenOS, a commercial model of CyanogenMod, an operating system for Android devices.

Seven years after working for Oneplus, it became a well-known smartphone brand worldwide with unique features and functionalities. In 2023, as per information from global market intelligence firm IDC, the company held a substantial portion of deliveries in the entry-level and mid-level luxury sectors in the Indian market.

OnePlus was his first real job; he had a great experience and felt lucky enough to enroll there. OnePlus has a great product culture, so he was able to cooperate easily with a great working culture, focusing on product betterment even when things didn’t go well.

Why Did Carl Leave OnePlus In 2021?

Pei admired OnePlus’s “late mover strategy” but felt the need to take the next big step. He explained that it was a gut feeling to contribute something back to technology instead of waiting for others to define a category and then taking a space in it.

The genius behind OnePlus and Nothing Carl Pei, also mentioned that technology is accelerating, and waiting may result in missing the next wave. He describes his departure from Oneplus as his 31st birthday gift.

The Genius Behind OnePlus And Nothing Carl Pei. Image Credit: Instagram.

When Pei co-founded Nothing in 2021 with Akis Evangelidis, he stated it was “time for a fresh breeze of change” and to “remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future.”

Nothing’s products have re-ignited the part among tech enthusiasts. The main reasons are the transparent design philosophy and glyph interface.

What’s Nothing?

Nothing is a consumer electronics manufacturer in the UK, headquartered in London. It was founded by the genius behind OnePlus and Nothing Carl Pei.

Notable investors in the company include Tony Fadell of iPod; Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch; Steve Huffman, the CEO of Reddit; and YouTube personality Casey Neistat.

On February 25, 2021, the company announced Teenage Engineering as a founding partner, primarily responsible for the brand’s design aesthetic and products. Nothing’s inaugural product, “EAR (1)”, was released on July 27, 2021.

Building the Nothing Brand

Pei not only founded Nothing but also had to handle the pressure of all who invested in the company. He was anxious about ruining the lives and careers of others who believed in him.

The genius behind OnePlus and Nothing Carl Pei, admits that the Indian market is the most sophisticated one to sell in, as per smartphones worldwide. The most challenging point is that Indian consumers want quality features and affordability in one device.

The Indian market had a lot of potential and a large volume of consumers for Nothing, and if the firm isn’t ready to deliver a good value for/of or from the product, they would be challenged to either back off or make growth.

Inspired by Elon Musk, Carl says you can have a different personality and be yourself. Pei resided in London but considered moving to the U.S. because he knew the AI revolution wouldn’t happen in Europe.

To relieve pressure and stress, Carl went skiing in many places around the world. He mainly recalls Gulmarg, Kashmir, as the place where he experienced the most wonder.

Carl Pei’s Net Worth

Talking about his net worth, let’s first discuss the ventures and investments that helped with his networth, such as OnePlus and Nothing. He has invested in multiple firms, real estate, and stocks to generate passive income.

The Genius Behind OnePlus And Nothing Carl Pei. Image Credit: Instagram.

According to sources, Pei has made over $300 million, while in 2024, with the inflation of income sources and investments, he made approximately $50 million in 2020. Some believe it to be much less than this, but the sources aren’t sure, which makes them guess.

The strongest piece of information that confirms this is the company’s data showing that it made $300 million in revenue in 2014, within one year of the launch.

The Genius Behind OnePlus And Nothing Carl Pei’s Philanthropy

Pei not only sees the problem but also offers a solution. As an entrepreneur, he is involved in various charities. In 2011, he joined a charity called Water Community, which supports ending the water crisis.

Every penny donated to the charity directly goes to the clean water process and progression of the mission/motive of providing clean water to end the water crisis in some areas.

The genius behind OnePlus and Nothing Carl Pei has been involved in many other donations and investments for the betterment of the societies they work on. He has also been awarded and honored in various functions and mentions.

Honor & Awards

In April 2016, Pei was featured in the 2016 Marketing Week Vision 100 list. In January 2016, he was selected for the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 list due to his impact on the technology industry. He even made it into the Fortune 40 Under 40 list in 2019.

These are a few known prestigious awards he was nominated for or was entitled to as an innovator in tech and development. There are many awards not mentioned or available online, to be mentioned.

The genius behind OnePlus and Nothing Carl Pei has a convincing background and hard work stories, which inspires the youth to at least give what they are willing to try and encourage them with success stories so that they don’t doubt themselves.

FAQ’s 

Q: Why did Carl Pei leave OnePlus?

A:  Originally, it was a gift for his 31st birthday. He planned to travel the world for half a year but got bored after a week.

Q: Who is the CEO of Nothing?

A: It was founded by Carl Pei, the co-founder of the Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus.

Q: Who owns Nothing company?

A: Nothing was co-founded in 2020 by Carl Pei and Akis Evangelidis, headquartered in London, England.

ictmirror.com contains affiliate links. Meaning ictmirror.com receives commissions for purchases made through those links, at no cost to you.