OnePlus debuted its mid-range Nord smartphone earlier this year. It provided great value for the price, but was supposedly never meant to target US consumers. We learned earlier this month that OnePlus is planning on announcing two new Nord devices that will launch in the US. Now some further specifications for both phones have leaked, and they paint a picture of two very different devices.
Nord N10 5G
Today's details confirm many of the previously-leaked specs of the higher-end N10 5G Nord device while shedding some new light on what to expect. It should feature a 6.49-inch FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate similar to the OnePlus 8 and Pixel 5. The 4,300 battery inside should provide plenty of battery life alongside the Snapdragon 690 5G chipset. The 6 GB of RAM included is nothing special compared to other OnePlus phones, but it's just fine for most users. The 128GB of storage is appreciated, as is the return of the headphone jack.
The camera looks to feature a 64MP primary lens along with an 8MP wide-angle. There are also two 2MP lenses so OnePlus can claim it has a quad camera system. And of course, it wouldn't be a 2020 phone launch without support for 5G.
Nord N100
The N100 is rumored to be the most affordable OnePlus phone yet, but how much value can the company bring to the low-end market? We first heard about this device in August, but not all of those rumors appear to now be true.
Like this year's Pixel lineup, the display on the cheaper model is actually larger than the N10 5G at 6.52". It's an LCD panel that's only HD+ resolution, but I was always a fan of the logic behind OnePlus forgoing higher-res panels that the human eye can't even appreciate. The N100's processor is a Snapdragon 460 chip, the first in the 4-series to feature an 11nm die. That's paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for a solid budget experience backed by OxygenOS, which usually runs smoothly with OnePlus's Android optimizations.
The cameras on lower-end devices usually suffer, and the N100 is no exception. Its main sensor is downgraded to 13MP, and it only has two additional cameras, both of which are 2MP components to help with macro shots and bokeh blur. It does offer USB-C charging and a 5,000mAh battery — although that's smaller than the 6,000mAh cell previously rumored. A headphone jack and dual-SIM support are nice to see as well.
OnePlus has been busy lately. The company returned to the mid-range market when it launched Nord, and just this month it unveiled new hardware along with news that co-founder Carl Pei has abandoned ship. These new Nord devices are going to help set the tone for OnePlus going forward, and they promise to be the company's most affordable entries into the US market yet. We already know a lot about them, but I'm sure OnePlus will have a few surprises up its sleeve when it officially unveils them later this month.