OnePlus Nord won’t be fully revealed until an event next week, but in an interview with MKBHD this week, Carl Pei isn’t hiding anything. Here’s a first look at the OnePlus Nord design in person, and the company’s truly wireless headphones too.
With its new mid-range, the first to be launched in a few years, OnePlus isn’t straying too far from the path set by its flagships. There’s a clear OnePlus Nord inspiration taken from the 8 Series design, like the curved sides, a single strip of cameras, and even the bluish color. It feels familiar, but also new.
Pei also brought in a few prototypes to showcase ideas OnePlus had while deciding on Nord’s design. The first of those prototypes looks strangely like an iPhone, specifically the design of the rumored iPhone 12. Another has a two-tone look very similar to older Pixel devices. Pei says OnePlus changed the design very late in the game, delaying the full launch in about a month. “Ideally,” the design would have been completed 9 months before launch, but in this case, that timeline was only 6 months.
However, beyond design, this interview tells us a lot about what goes on behind the scenes when making a mid-range phone. That conversation is mostly about cost, what decisions are made to reach the lowest, but still unknown, price of OnePlus Nord.
The first discussion here is about NFC. That has been a point of discussion for OnePlus in the past. Looking back at the OnePlus 2, NFC was dropped to save costs. However, the actual cost of the parts needed for NFC is only $ 4 on the Bill of Materials. Of course, that cost increases as it passes to the consumer, but still, it’s not a huge cost.
IP certification is another area discussed, and it’s not particularly cheap. The cost of actually “waterproofing” the phone is low, but according to Pei, the biggest cost is the machinery needed to test an IP rating. Labor also increases costs to achieve this qualification. Pei says it would cost around $ 15 per phone to add an IP rating, so the Nord doesn’t have one, but it still has some of the necessary seals to prevent water damage.
In the battery department, OnePlus has several things to think about outside of capacity. Pei explains that the battery is “standard,” but the power pack has higher than average costs because much of the hardware is in the power pack, not the phone.
Pei says that when it comes to displays, AMOLED is twice as expensive as LCD, making it the best option. There are also factors to decide, such as whether it will be curved or not, as that adds cost, as well as a high refresh rate. Apparently, the price of the 90Hz panels has dropped, but it has still been a high cost in OnePlus Nord’s design.
What about a headphone jack? The cost of the BOM is not high, but it affects the interior of the device as we have heard so many times before.
Speaking of headphones, throughout the interview, Carl Pei is wearing a pair of truly wireless headphones that are undoubtedly the next OnePlus Buds. Apparently they will come in blue!
OnePlus Nord and OnePlus Buds will launch on July 21.
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