OnePlus co-founder quietly leaves the brand he created

When we first saw it yesterday we were unsure of it but the rumour that Carl Pei had left the company he co-founded with Pete Lau has now been all but confirmed. At first it was thought to be all about a power struggle within the company but it seems there is more to it with reports now suggesting that Carl has left to start a new venture.

Carl and his OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau were both executives at OPPO before deciding to start their own smartphone brand, targeted at smartphone enthusiasts like us. In the seven years since, with Carl being the face of the brand at most trade conferences, OnePlus have expanded tremendously not just in sales and devices but also in the markets they compete in.

Techcrunch are reporting that Carl is venturing out on a new venture although little is rumoured or known about this new venture but there has been no official statement from OnePlus or Carl at this stage. Of course the new venture you would think would be something to do with tech given that is where he has excelled in the past. Pete Lau remains the CEO of OnePlus although he is also wearing an OPPO hat as their Chief Product Experience Officer.

With OnePlus announcing their OnePlus 8T tonight this could not have come at a worse time but we suspect that neither Carl or OnePlus want to distract from the launch and as such we expect a statement from either or both in the following days.

Here at Ausdroid we have always found Carl to be extremely approachable and was happy to have a chat about us, even though we continually battered his ears with our “bring it to us in Australia” barrage, and we wish him all the best in his “new venture”, whatever it may be.