[News Figures] Kal Pae Who Made the 'Transparent Earphones' That Reveal Everything

Karl Pei, a 1989-born Chinese-Swede
Founder of UK-based startup 'Nothing'
Famous for 'transparent design' visible in products

British startup Nothing introduced its earphones 'Ear 2' in Korea on the 23rd. Nothing is famous for its so-called 'transparent design' that allows users to see inside products such as smartphones and earphones.

Nothing founder Carl Pei is a Chinese-Swedish entrepreneur born in Beijing, China, in 1989. After his entire family emigrated to the United States during his childhood, they settled in Sweden, where he acquired citizenship. He entered the Stockholm School of Economics in 2008 but dropped out in 2011. Later that year, in November 2011, he joined Oppo, a company manufacturing various electronic products including smartphones.

Nothing's Ear (2). Photo by Nothing

After gaining practical experience at Oppo, Carl Pei resigned to start his own company and founded OnePlus, a mobile phone manufacturing and sales company, in December 2013. Known as the 'flagship killer,' the products slightly lagged behind in performance but differentiated themselves through a low-price strategy. The co-founder was Pete Lau, who also worked at Oppo.

OnePlus gained great popularity by offering top-tier smartphones comparable to those priced around 1 million KRW at a price of about 600,000 KRW, and by using unique back panel materials such as bamboo, which sparked curiosity.

According to market research firm Counterpoint Research in 2019, OnePlus created a surprise by capturing a 33% market share in the Indian premium smartphone market (over $420), surpassing Samsung Electronics (26%) to take first place. At that time, Samsung Electronics reclaimed the top spot in the Indian premium smartphone market with a 34% share in the first quarter, one year later.

Karl Pei is personally introducing the key features of 'Phone1' in the 'Phone1' introduction video. Photo by Nothing official YouTube channel capture

However, Carl Pei closed OnePlus in 2020 and established the tech startup Nothing in London, UK.

Nothing began gaining popularity early on with its unique design that fully exposes the internal components of its products. Investors in Nothing include Steve Huffman, co-founder of Reddit, and Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch. In 2021, Nothing also recruited Manu Sharma, former Vice President of Samsung Electronics India until December 2020, as the head of India operations and Vice President, to target the global market.

Although some criticized the design for resembling Apple's iPhone, calling it an 'iPhone knockoff,' curiosity among consumers about Nothing's products grew, leading to a kind of fandom. According to Akis Evangelidis, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Nothing, the predecessor Ear One sold 650,000 units since its launch in August 2021. As of February, this product was sold out worldwide, and according to foreign media such as CNBC, the cumulative sales of the transparent phone 'Nothing Phone 1,' first sold in July last year, and the transparent earphones 'Nothing Ear Stick,' released in November of the same year, exceeded 1 million units as of December.