OnePlus has officially announced the Nord, its first serious attempt at a midrange handset since 2015’s. The company has since focused on a strategy of selling sensibly priced flagship products, but periodic increases in cost and the fact that OnePlus isn’t a small company anymore have meant that pricing is now much closer to that of the competition. This has annoyed OnePlus loyalists like me a fair bit.
OnePlus is known to pay a lot of attention to what reviewers and users alike have to say, and it seems the company has finally heard us. The OnePlus Nord is the company’s first non-flagship smartphone since the ill-fated OnePlus X , and promises much of the typical OnePlus experience, but at a significantly lower price than that of the OnePlus 8.
It’s still got a 1080p OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, Sub-6GHz 5G, Warp Charge 30T fast charging, and the same 48-megapixel main camera sensor as the OnePlus 8. That’s not to say there haven’t been concessions made to reach this lower price point, the most important of which is that the Nord is powered by a slower Snapdragon 765G processor, but in a lot of other cases the compromises are small.
ONEPLUS NORD SPECS
- Screen: 6.44-inch OLED, 2400 x 1080 resolution with a 20:9 aspect ratio
- Rear cameras: wide-angle 48-megapixel, ultrawide 8-megapixel (119-degree) lens, 2-megapixel macro camera, 5-megapixel depth sensor
- Selfie camera: wide-angle 32-megapixel, ultrawide 8-megapixel (105-degree) camera
- Dimensions: 73.3 x 158.3 x 8.2 mm, 184g
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
- Memory: 8GB or 12GB RAM
- Storage: 128GB to 256GB
- Battery: 4,115mAh
- OS: OxygenOS 10.5 based on Android 10
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1 with AptX, AptX HD, LDAC, and AAC, Sub-6GHz 5G, LTE
- Biometric authentication: fingerprint sensor
- Fast charging: Warp Charge 30T
Price and Availability
OnePlus Nord arrives in three configurations in India – 6GB+64GB, 8GB+128GB and 12GB+256GB. The price for all of the OnePlus Nord variants has been listed below:
- 6GB+64GB – Rs. 24,999
- 8GB+128GB – Rs. 27,999
- 12GB+256GB – Rs. 29,999
The smartphone will be available in two color variants – Gray Onyx and Blue Marble. It will go on sale starting from August 4, exclusively on Amazon India, OnePlus.in and offline partner stores. The aforementioned sale date is for the 8GB and 12GB RAM variants, the 6GB variant will come later in September.
A Quick Comparision:
| OnePlus Nord | OnePlus 8 | OnePlus 8 Pro | Apple iPhone SE (2020) | |
| Display size, resolution | 6.44-inch; 2,400×1,080-pixels | 6.55-inch AMOLED; 1,080×2,400 pixels | 6.78-inch AMOLED; 1,440×3,168 pixels | 4.7-inch Retina HD; 1,334×750 pixels |
| Pixel density | 408ppi | 402ppi | 513ppi | 326ppi |
| Dimensions (Inches) | 6.23×2.88×0.32 in | 6.3×2.8×0.31 in | 6.51×2.93×0.35 in | 5.45×2.65×0.29 in |
| Dimensions (Millimeters) | 158.3×73.3×8.2 mm | 160×72.9×8.0 mm | 165×74.4×8.5 mm | 138.4×67.3×7.3 mm |
| Weight (Ounces, Grams) | 6.49 oz; 184g | 180g | 199g | 5.22 oz; 148g |
| Mobile software | Android 10 | Android 10 | Android 10 | iOS 13 |
| Camera | 48-megapixel (standard), 12-megapixel (wide-angle), 2-megapixel (macro), 5-megapixel (depth-sensing) | 48-megapixel main, 2-megapixel macro lens, 16-megapixel ultra-wide | 48-megapixel main, 8-megapixel telephoto, 48-megapixel ultra-wide, 5-megapixel ‘colour filter’ | 12-megapixel |
| Front-facing camera | 32-megapixel, 8-megapixel (wide-angle) | 16-megapixel | 16-megapixel | 7-megapixel |
| Video capture | 4K | 4K | 4K | 4K |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G | Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 | Apple A13 Bionic |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB | 128GB, 256B | 128GB, 256B | 64GB, 128GB, 256GB |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB | 8GB, 12GB | 8GB, 12GB | Not disclosed |
| Expandable storage | No | None | None | No |
| Battery | 4,115 mAh | 4,300 mAh | 4,300 mAh | Not disclosed, but Apple claims it has the same battery life as iPhone 8 |
| Fingerprint sensor | In-screen | In-screen | In-screen | Home button |
| Connector | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C | Lightning |
| Headphone jack | No | No | No | No |
| Special features | 5G-enabled, 90Hz refresh rate, 30w fast-charging | 5G enabled, Fast-charging, 90Hz display | 5G enabled, Fast-charging, fast wireless charging, 120Hz display, IP68 water resistance | Water resistant (IP67); dual-SIM capabilities (nano-SIM and e-SIM); wireless charging |
