The OnePlus Nord CE 5G has finally been officially unveiled, after not one, but two TechRadar exclusives. While it’s not the Nord 2 many were expecting, it’s an even more budget version of the original series-starting device.
With features like a Snapdragon 750G chipset, 30W charging and a 90Hz display, the OnePlus Nord CE 5G has lots of mid-range features that might appeal to people looking for a low-cost but fairly powerful phone.
We’ve not got a OnePlus Nord CE 5G review just yet, but until we’ve published one, we’ve collected everything you need to know about the newest mid-range OnePlus phone. You can read it all below.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? OnePlus’ newest cheap phone
- When is it out? You can buy it right now
- How much will it cost? Starts at £299 (about $420, AU$550)
OnePlus Nord CE 5G price and availability
Like the original Nord, the OnePlus Nord CE 5G won’t come to the US, nor is it to be released in Australia.
You will be able to pick up the phone in the UK as well as plenty more European countries, along with India and the UAE.
So what about price? The phone starts at £299 (about $420, AU$550) for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and goes up to £369 (roughly $520, AU$670) if you want 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Just note, the Silver Ray version of the phone is only available in the latter variant.
Design and display
The OnePlus Nord comes in three colors: Blue Void, Charcoal Ink, and Silver Ray. That’s blue, black and white to you or I.
This is quite a small phone, with a weight of just 170g, and it’s only 7.9mm thick too. The device has a headphone jack and a USB-C port.
Onto the screen, this is a 6.43-inch panel with a FHD+ resolution. It’s an AMOLED panel, so colors should be bold, and it has a 90Hz refresh rate for smooth motion.
There’s an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is a fairly premium feature for a budget phone, though it’s a feature other Nord phones have.
Cameras and battery life
The main OnePlus Nord CE 5G camera has a 64MP sensor, which is pretty high-res for a budget phone.
That’s joined by an 8MP ultra-wide snapper, which has a 119-degree field of view, and there’s a third 2MP monochrome lens, which should also help with depth effects.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G has a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls, which is pretty average for a phone of this price, and should be good for social-media-worthy snaps.
You’ll find a 4,500mAh battery in the Nord CE – that’s bigger than in the original Nord – which should power the handset through a whole day between charges. If you’re a light phone user you might get it to last even longer.
To power the OnePlus Nord CE 5G up, there’s 30W fast charging thanks to the company’s Warp Charge 30T Plus tech. OnePlus says it takes half an hour to power the phone from empty up to 70% with this.
Performance and software
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G’s chipset is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G – that’s a fairly decent mid-range processor that’s optimized for gaming, and should return worthy speeds.
As the name suggests, the Nord CE is 5G-compatible, so you’ll be able to use it to get fast data speeds. This will be useful if you want to jump on video calls while out and about, or download TV shows or albums quickly.
In terms of software, we’re looking at OnePlus’ OxygenOS, which is a fork of ‘stock’ Android. This is a spin on Android 11, but the phone will likely be able to update to Android 12 towards the end of the year.
Some of the perks of OxygenOS 11, which the newest version is called, include an always-on display, dark mode, and a Zen Mode which locks the phone while you work.
OnePlus has pledged to support the Nord CE 5G with three years of security patches, and two years of software updates, so you should get to at least Android 13 if not further.