OnePlus has confirmed its plans to debut a mid-range smartphone to expand beyond its flagship portfolio. First, it was dubbed the OnePlus 8 Lite and then we switched to OnePlus Z, thanks to a couple of reliable tipsters. However, it now looks like that the upcoming mid-ranger from OnePlus may arrive as ‘Nord by OnePlus’ next month.
Reliable tipster Max J. took to Twitter to share a cryptic message. It saw users guess a four-letter word starting with N. And well, the folks over at PhoneArena were the first to crack the code. The message was ‘NORD’ and if you’ve been keeping track, OnePlus submitted a trademark application for ‘Nord by OnePlus’ earlier in March.
.@JoshuaSwingle seemed to have found the solution to my little quiz 😉 https://t.co/IYj1JivRTK
— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) June 8, 2020
Once the code was cracked, Max confirmed the answer in the tweet you see above. The more intriguing part, however, has to be the fact that he denies knowing any phone by the name OnePlus Z even though he was the one who floated the idea in the first place. It looks like OnePlus Z could be the internal name for the first phone in the upcoming ‘Nord by OnePlus’ mid-range series.
As for the rumored specs, they were recently spotted in a user survey that had leaked online. Max J. has, however, disputed the leak and said that most of the specifications listed in the said leak are incorrect. You can still check out the specs right here but we suggest you take them with a grain of salt.
OnePlus may be looking to follow in the footsteps of its sister company Oppo, who had debuted Realme as a budget-centric brand a couple of years ago. Nord by OnePlus can eventually become a separate brand that focuses on the budget and mid-range market. This is the same strategy that Xiaomi adopted with “Redmi by Xiaomi” to differentiate the two brands.