OnePlus

OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei is no longer with the company

Ben Schoon | Oct 12 2020 - 3:01 pm PT

Nearly seven years after joining the smartphone market, OnePlus may have a big shakeup in its leadership. According to leaked documents, it looks like OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei is no longer with the company.

u/JonSigur on Reddit posted what appear to be internal documents from OnePlus that explain a leadership change. Emily Dai, lead of OnePlus operations in India, is apparently taking over the Nord lineup globally. During OnePlus’ development, Carl Pei was very much in charge of the lineup. The company’s documentary about creating Nord focused almost as heavily on Pei as it did on OnePlus.

It’s unclear whether Pei left the company by choice or if he was fired, but u/JonSigur says that he “hears sacked.” But the company may be trying to save face by calling the departure “left by mutual consent.”

When Android Police contacted OnePlus about the story, it declined to comment. David Ruddock also mentions on Twitter that the OnePlus Nord project, on which Pei took the lead, may have been the “tipping point” between the other cofounder, Pete Lau, and Carl Pei. We’ve also heard this mentioned from sources close to the company.

Update: Shortly after this story first broke, Android Central further confirmed with sources that Carl Pei is no longer at the company. OnePlus never responded to Android Central regarding the matter.

TechCrunch also corroborated the story with its sources, mentioning that Lau is also starting his own venture. It’s unclear what that is, but apparently he is already in talk with investors.

Pei, 31, is not joining Samsung, but has clarity on what he wishes to do next. He is starting his own venture and is in talks with investors to raise capital, according to one of the sources who requested anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak to the media. Pei did not respond to a request for comment early Monday.

At this point, Lau is still in charge of the company as CEO. Lau was also recently appointed to a position where he would be contributing to product development and planning between Oppo, Realme, and OnePlus.