According to trusted industry sources, Carl Pei, co-founder of the popular smartphone company OnePlus , has recently left the company in search of a new venture.

Carl Pei, together with Pete Lau, are responsible for turning a small startup born from Oppo into one of the most relevant mobile manufacturers today. After almost 7 years in the company and being its public face, the young entrepreneur has resigned from OnePlus in search of new horizons.

The news was first made known via Reddit, where a user familiar with the company posted screenshots of an internal memo, which lists OnePlus’ leadership structure. The memo also indicates that Emily Dai is now in charge of the OnePlus Nord line. As far as we understood, the Nord family ran under the responsibility of Carl Pei, who, by the way, is notably absent from the entire list.

OnePlus has not denied the departure of Carl Pei: Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus, leaves the company

Various sources (notoriously Tech Crunch) have reached out to OnePlus seeking official statements. While the company has not responded to any of the requests, it has not denied the story either. The latter only adds more credibility to it, since denying the departure of its co-founder would be very simple. And according to TechCrunch, internal sources have confirmed Carl Pei’s departure.

For his part, Pete Lau maintains his position as CEO of the company. However, it is known that he has diverted some of his attention (and responsibilities) from OnePlus since August, the date on which he accepted a limited position at the parent company, Oppo.

Carl Pei has been a prominent figure at OnePlus since its inception, and his departure will certainly be a buzz in the days to come, when the company makes an official statement on the matter.