Exclusive | The Nothing Phone 1 is Carl Pei’s first move in trying to shake up the smartphone since leaving OnePlus. Will it work?

  • Two years after leaving OnePlus, Carl Pei is betting his new company’s Nothing Phone 1 can shake up the market again with a flashy design
  • Nothing has big plans for an ecosystem with its smartphone at the centre, but it must prove the market wants its products before disrupting it

Nothing founder Carl Pei at his office in London, where he moved after leaving Shenzhen-based OnePlus two years ago. Photo: Nothing

Two years after Carl Pei left OnePlus, the buzzy smartphone brand he co-founded with Pete Lau in Shenzhen in 2013, the entrepreneur is set to launch a new smartphone with his new company Nothing, all from a new location.

“London is a great location because there’s so much talent here, especially in the financial services sector,” Pei said in a video call with the South China Morning Post on June 29. “I mean, we need funding also to grow this company when it comes to design talent, marketing talent, branding talent.”

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