OnePlus 8 Lite? OnePlus Z? And now, the past couple of weeks have seen us refer to the upcoming affordable OnePlus phone as “OnePlus Nord” or “Nord by OnePlus” on social media. The Chinese giant has been teasing this new smartphone series for long and has today confirmed its name. The upcoming OnePlus mid-ranger will officially be called “OnePlus Nord”. Not just that, we also got our first glimpse at this smartphone.
OnePlus Nord Design
The company revealed the basics about OnePlus Nord in the first episode called “New Beginnings” of its short, four-part documentary over on IGTV.
The visual identity of OnePlus Nord is supposed to be “inspired by the Scandinavian sort of design.” This means we can expect a stunning and premium build. It also ties well with the rumored “Avicii” codename as Tim Bergling, better known by his stage name Avicii, was a Swedish DJ and producer.
The episode also gave us a quick peek at the front and back of the OnePlus Nord. The front, as recently revealed, features a flat panel with a dual-camera punch-hole at the top left. It’s rumored to house a 32MP primary sensor and an 8MP ultra-wide sensor. We can also see the USB Type-C port and SIM tray at the bottom.
OnePlus also gave us a look at the back panel for the first prototype. It’s similar to what the company tried to quietly sneak into a recent Instagram post. But, it looks fugly and seems like a three-year-old tried to design the camera array. This is not the final design though as the team wasn’t satisfied with this back panel. A redesign (possibly final look) will be revealed in the next episode. It, however, looks like OnePlus Nord will feature triple cameras on the rear.
[UPDATE] – Just as we had speculated, the design of the rear panel that’s seen above wasn’t the final pick. Amazon India updated the microsite for OnePlus Nord on 3rd July, giving us a peek at the actual rear design of the upcoming device. You have a vertical camera array that looks similar to recently launched Oppo and Realme phones. Check out the image below –
OnePlus Nord Price
In addition to the design, the first episode in the documentary series has also set a bar for price expectations. OnePlus co-founder and CEO Pete Lau reveals, “Nord will be our first product under $500 [around Rs. 37,750] in recent years. For OnePlus and the whole team, it’s a massive challenge.”
OnePlus has been steadily adding new features, taking baby steps to get close to other premium phone brands. This has led to a surge in the entry price of OnePlus phones, which now starts at Rs. 41,999 (around $550) in India. OnePlus Nord will reset this clock, making the same premium experience available for under Rs. 30,000 in India.
OnePlus Nord Rumored Specs
The company did not divulge any of the hardware specs in the IGTV video. However, if rumors are to be believed, OnePlus Nord will include a 90Hz AMOLED display. It will arrive with the Snapdragon 765G chipset with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage powering this device. We also expect to see a 4,000mAh battery pack with 30W Warp charging in tow.
Since the Snapdragon 765G is expected to run this device, it will come with 5G support out-of-the-box. Not much else is known about the Nord just yet but return back on 7th July, which is when the second episode drops, for more details on this mid-ranger.
