TRAILBLAZER
School of Economics , Pei abandoned his bachelor ’ s degree to work full time in the smartphone industry — landing a job at BBK Electronics subsidiary Oppo in late 2011 as its international markets manager , where he worked directly under Pete Lau .
Two years later , the duo founded OnePlus and launched their first device , the OnePlus One , which sold close to a million units in 2014 — smashing their projected sales figures of 50,000 . OnePlus went from strength to strength over the next three years , quickly developing a reputation as a manufacturer of “ flagship killers ” — premium-feeling phones at affordable price points .
If Pei had remained at OnePlus , turning out generation after generation of well-received phones , he ’ d still be a remarkable figure in the landscape of the modern smartphone sector . However , it appears Pei has taken OnePlus ’ motto (“ Never Settle ”) too close to heart .
For someone whose rise in the smartphone industry has been so fast and precipitous , Pei also seems to hate tech as much as he loves it . “ This world utterly absorbed me . It felt like everything was possible ,” says Pei , reflecting on the dawn of consumer tech and the widely accessible , social internet in the 2010s . “ But today , all that excitement and all that possibility around tech — it ’ s gone ,” he shrugs . “ What have we got instead ? Scepticism , apathy ; tech companies are not on the consumer ’ s side any more . And no one ’ s innovating .”
Bold , contentious words , but it ’ s not impossible to see where he ’ s coming from . We live in a world where upgrade cycles are getting shorter as each subsequent generation of phone looks less distinct from the one that game before it . Pei wants his new project to change the future of the industry by recapturing the magic of a bygone age .
“ If not us , then who ?”
“ THIS WORL UTTERLY ABSORBED ME . I T FELT LIKE
EVERYTHIN WAS POSSIBLE ”
20 May 2022