In the very competitive world of consumer electronics, where big companies like Apple and Samsung make predictable changes, one entrepreneur has made it his goal to bring back fun, ease, and boldness to technology. Carl Pei, the Swedish-born CEO and co-founder of Nothing, isn’t just making gadgets. He’s changing the way things are done, one clear design at a time. Pei was born on September 11, 1989, in Beijing. He started out as a tech-obsessed kid in Stockholm and has since become a global force. By 2024, his company was making $500 million a year, and by 2025, it is expected to make $1 billion. His story shows that you should always be curious, take big risks, and believe that technology should be fun, not boring.
Early Sparks: From Stockholm to Shenzhen
Pei’s journey started in a world that was always moving. His family moved from China to the US and then to Sweden, where he grew up in a busy home that made him interested in technology. As a kid, Pei was fascinated by gadgets like the iPod. He would spend hours playing with them and dreaming up new ways to connect human creativity with machines. He was so passionate about economics that he went to the Stockholm School of Economics, but the classroom couldn’t hold him back. He quit school in 2011 and traded textbooks for the harsh realities of the Chinese tech scene.
Pei had already started working in the industry when he was only 15 years old. He moved to Guangdong province, which is China’s electronics manufacturing hub. He worked at Nokia for a short time in 2010, only three months, before Meizu noticed him through a fan website he had made. He worked on product development and marketing there, and then he moved to OPPO. These jobs weren’t just jobs; they were like apprenticeships in how to change things. Pei and Pete Lau co-founded OnePlus in 2013 with the goal of making “flagship killer” smartphones.
The OnePlus Revolution: Don’t Give Up
The OnePlus One came out in 2014 and was a huge hit. It was a phone that was way better than its price. Pei, as Director of Global, led the launch, which exceeded its initial sales goal of 50,000 units and brought in over $300 million in revenue in the first year alone. The company’s motto, “Never Settle,” struck a chord with tech fans who were sick of paying too much for flagship phones. With Pei’s help, OnePlus grew to 36 countries, launched virtual reality products (like the OnePlus 2 reveal in 2015), and built a community that was almost like a cult.
But success made things too familiar, and Pei wanted more. In a 2015 interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said that there weren’t any Android phones that inspired him, which was a big part of OnePlus’s early days. Pei, on the other hand, felt the spark fading by 2020. He left the empire he had helped build on his 31st birthday in September of that year. He gave up control of the Nord lineup and flagship. The move shocked the industry, but for Pei, it was a planned step into the unknown.
Nothing: Starting from the Ground Up to Question Everything
Less than a month later, on October 29, 2020, Pei started Nothing in London. He got $7 million from big names like Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod, Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch, Steve Huffman, the CEO of Reddit, and Casey Neistat, a YouTuber. The company’s motto is “Remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future.” No more corporate nonsense—just clear, bold designs that make technology feel human again.
The Ear (1) wireless earbuds from Nothing, which came out in July 2021, set the tone with their clear design and low price. But the Nothing Phone (1) in March 2022 really got people’s attention. The phone got good reviews for its high-quality construction, bright display, and good value, even though some people didn’t like the battery and camera at first (they were later improved through software). It has the unique Glyph Interface, which has LED lights on the back for notifications without screen glare. Critics said it was a breath of fresh air in a market that had been stagnant.
From there, the momentum grew. The Nothing Phone (2) worked with Qualcomm’s eighth-generation chips in 2023, and the Ear (2) earbuds improved sound quality. Nothing was the first company to integrate ChatGPT into its products by April 2024, making it easy to use earbuds with phones. In 2025, the lineup blew up: the budget-friendly Phone (2a) and (2a) Plus came out, followed by the Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro in March. These phones had MediaTek’s Dimensity 7350 Pro for better multitasking. The Nothing Phone (3), with a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, triple 50MP cameras with periscope zoom, and the new Glyph Matrix, a dot-matrix LED array that changes how notifications look, was the best phone to come out on July 1.
Nothing announced the over-ear Headphone (1) for July 1, 2025, which will add to its audio dominance by entering new categories. Pei also started the low-cost CMF sub-brand, which is based in India, to make innovation accessible to everyone. By the middle of 2025, Nothing had sold more than 7 million devices, bringing in $500 million in 2024 and more than $1 billion in lifetime sales. However, Pei is honest about the fact that the industry is still “challenging” and not making money, focusing on long-term moats over quick wins.
Bold Bets: India’s Growth and Predictions for 2025
Pei’s global vision is strongest in India, which is Nothing’s fastest-growing market. He said in September 2025 that he would invest $100 million, work with Optiemus to make things locally, and create 1,800 jobs over the next three years. Pei said, “Built from India, to the world,” after meeting with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. He put CMF’s headquarters there to boost exports and innovation. This move shows how good Pei is at combining cultural knowledge he gained while living in China with strategic foresight.
Pei, who is always trying to stir things up, shared his predictions for 2025 on X in January. He said that AI hype and foldables were not going to work out: “Fatigue with AI overuse” and “foldables still not a big hit.” He said that the Indian stock market would hit an all-time high, that the U.S. would enter a “Golden Age,” that Europe would fade, and that bitcoin and gold would both rise. These aren’t just quick thoughts; they’re Pei’s way of cutting through the noise, just like his company’s anti-copycat philosophy.
Pei Matters: A Legacy in the Making
Carl Pei’s net worth is between $50 and $75 million at the age of 36, but his real wealth is in his power. He’s shown that dropping out doesn’t mean dropping the ball; it means rewriting the game. From OnePlus’s community-driven rise to Nothing’s design-first rebellion, he’s shown that dropping out doesn’t mean dropping the ball. He told SXSW London in June 2025 that Nothing does well by “breaking rules: no copy-paste features, just beautifully bold design and real community co-creation.”
In a tech world full of things that are too similar, Pei reminds us that innovation isn’t just about adding more features; it’s about making people happy. Nothing isn’t just getting by; it’s changing what comes next. The Phone (3) and Headphone (1) are leading the way, and there are rumors of a “landmark” device in Q3 2025. Carl Pei may have started with nothing, but he’s making something amazing: a future where technology inspires instead of overwhelms.
