OnePlus has revealed a first look at OnePlus Nord, giving a quick preview to Marques Brownlee during an interview about the phone’s design process. The Nord, which is supposed to be OnePlus’ return to mid-range phones, will be formally announced next week, though as usual OnePlus has been pulling out details before launch.
In the latest MKBHD video, Brownlee shows a brief glimpse of what the Nord will look like. It bears a strong resemblance to the OnePlus 8, released earlier this year, with a shiny back, curved edges, a central logo, and a camera strip. The big difference is that the camera strip is now located in the upper left corner of the phone, whereas recent OnePlus phones have placed it in the center.
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Another shot shows the front of the phone, revealing a dual selfie camera that is cut out in the upper left corner of the screen. The phone has thick, seemingly uniform bezels that run around the screen – it looks just like the iPhone XR or 11’s bezels (albeit without the top notch). There appears to be a USB-C port and a SIM tray on the bottom of the phone.
The design was decided “very late in the process,” OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei told Brownlee. Pei said OnePlus delayed the launch by a month to adjust the design to make the phone look more consistent with other OnePlus devices. The first prototypes, shown in the interview (around 1:40 pm in the video), had the cameras arranged in an L shape in the upper corner and different finishes on the back of the phone.
OnePlus plans to fully introduce the Nord on July 21. The phone is supposed to sell for less than $ 500 and launch first in India and Europe. OnePlus has confirmed that it will have 5G, included with the Snapdragon 765G processor. The leaks point to the phone having a 6.55-inch OLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 4,300mAh battery.
Naturally, Pei teases a second OnePlus product not announced in the interview: OnePlus Buds. It appears to be wearing a light blue model. They are also supposed to be announced on July 21.
Brownlee has Pei delving into smartphone component costs in the interview, breaking down the costs of features like NFC and an IP rating. It’s an interesting discussion and it’s worth taking a full look at if you’ve ever wondered how phones get so expensive.
