OnePlus co-founder unveils new project, and it's Nothing

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei left the smartphone manufacturer last year, later confirming that he was working on a new venture. Now, Pei has confirmed that the new company is called Nothing.

“Nothing’s mission is to remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future,” read an excerpt of a company press release. So what will the company actually be offering, then?

Well, the company noted in the release that its first “smart devices” would launch in the first half of the year.

It didn’t reveal anything more specific though, but Pei previously told Wired that the company is audio-related, and that multiple products are coming in 2021. The executive added at the time that the new company was about more than just headphones.

Pei told The Verge that Nothing would offer products across multiple categories, and is aiming to build an ecosystem of products.

“The ultimate vision of having everything connected in a seamless way, that can only happen when you have multiple categories of products that are connected,” the OnePlus co-founder was quoted as saying. He also added that the firm plans to make most of its money from hardware rather than software subscriptions, with earlier speculation pointing to a music service.

In what seems like a shot at former company OnePlus, Pei also suggested that Nothing won’t “relabel somebody else’s products.”

It’s also worth noting that Nothing’s European head is David Sanmartin, who was most recently OnePlus’s European e-commerce director, according to his LinkedIn profile.

What do you think of the new company’s name though? Let us know by taking the poll above!