In what appears to be the quietest launch in the company’s history, OnePlus has today expanded its mid-range Nord lineup to even affordable price segments. The company launched two new (but long-rumored) smartphones, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G and Nord N100, in Europe. While the former brings 5G to more users at a cheaper price than the original Nord, the latter offers a premium OnePlus experience to entry-level users.
Nord N10 5G
OnePlus Nord N10 5G can be seen as a younger sibling to the original Nord that was launched in India back in July earlier this year. It features a 6.49-inch Full-HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 16MP selfie camera housed in the punch-hole at the top left.
Under the hood, Nord N10 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 690 from Qualcomm. It is an octa-core chipset with Kryo 560 CPU with clock speeds up to 2.0GHz and a new Adreno 619L GPU. You can read how Snapdragon 690 compares to the Snapdragon 765 chipset right here. It is coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage.
The smartphone has a rectangular camera cutout, similar to the OnePlus 8T, housing four sensors on the rear. It is led by a 64MP camera, which is accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP monochrome sensor.
Finally, the Nord N10 5G also comes equipped with a modest 4,300mAh battery that supports 30W fast-charging via the USB-C port onboard. It runs OxygenOS 10.5 based on Android 10, which means you won’t be able to experience the amazing one-handed stock-like OxygenOS 11 just yet. One of the highlights of this device, as well as the Nord N100 that we talk about below, will have to be the return of the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Nord N100
OnePlus is not only making an affordable version of the existing Nord. Instead, it has also decided to step into Xiaomi and Realme’s budget territory with the launch of the OnePlus Nord N100.
Though the company committed to baking high refresh rate displays into all its new phones going forward, that does not seem to be the case with the Nord N100. This is the company’s first entry-level device and includes a 6.52-inch HD+ LCD display with a standard 60Hz refresh rate. You have a bigger chin at the bottom and a punch-hole cutout with an 8MP selfie camera at the top left onboard here.
As I’ve been saying for the past couple of weeks, Nord N100 looks like an Oppo A53 rebrand. The polycarbonate back with a triple camera setup and a fingerprint sensor – exactly the same as the Oppo A53. The specs are not very different either.
Under the hood, OnePlus Nord N100 is powered by the Snapdragon 460 chipset. It is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in storage (expandable up to 256GB via a dedicated microSD card slot). You will also find a massive 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast-charging support. It runs Android 10-based OxygenOS 10.5 as well. We will have to get our hands on the device to know if there’s any bloatware on board to offset the price or not.
As for the triple rear-camera array, you have a 13MP primary camera (as opposed to 48MP or 64MP sensors), a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. It would have been great if the company included an ultra-wide sensor onboard. Then, Nord N100 would have brought some versatility on the photography front for entry-level users.
Price and Availability
The OnePlus Nord N10 5G has been priced starting at £329 (~Rs. 31,699) and will be available in a single Midnight Ice color variant. The entry-level Nord N100, on the other hand, starts at £179 (~Rs. 17,299) for the single Midnight Frost color variant in Europe.
There is currently no word on the availability details. Both of the devices will, however, make their way to the US very soon. It’s unknown whether OnePlus plans to bring the Nord N10 and N100 to the already cluttered and uber-competitive budget segment in India.
