What's Got The Oneplus Charged For Greater Success

What does it take to build the smartest of smartphones, a device that is both premium and affordable? More importantly, how do you create a loyal, loving cult of fans? Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus, tells GQ what’s got the Chinese brand charged for greater success.

- Nidhi Gupta

It’s… Like love. It’s hard to explain.” Carl Pei’s hand, holding a fork pushed through a chunk of pineapple, has paused on its way to his mouth, as he considers how to decode a mysterious tweet he put out three days earlier. “How do you explain what falling in love feels like to someone who’s never experienced it before?” he’d written, adding the thinking face emoji.

I learn that Pei was in London with his long-distance girlfriend when he’d sent out this 98-character long piece of existential inquiry into the universe. Turns out, Pei’s preoccupation had nothing to do with matters of the heart: He was talking about the infinitely more crucial subject of the Hertz count on smartphone displays.

“No user knows what the Hz on their phone is; indeed, no one knows why a bigger Hz is better either,” the co-founder of OnePlus says, in an accent native to the world, not any specific part of it. “It makes scrolling seamless, and you get used to it before you know it. But until you do...” he trails off with a shrug.

The best in the tech industry at large has thrived by offering us things we didn’t know we wanted until we got our hands on them. It wasn’t until Steve Jobs presented the world with the smartphone as you know it today, that you realized how vital it was to your existence. It’s not until 5G arrives in its full speedy glory that you’ll be irked by how 4G – this magic bandwidth that lets you make a video call with anyone anywhere in the world – is too slow, too slow.

Just like true love: Until you’ve felt it, experienced it, had it happen to you, you’ve no idea you wanted it.