OnePlus is doing that pre-product launch promotional thing they always do, where they have mapped out each day to announce or show off a new feature or spec or phone-related-item to get a ton of free press and not have to spend much on advertising. It’s working, as it always does, because we love talking about new products.
Take today for example, where OnePlus sent out a video of the new OnePlus Nord with the subtlest of teases of the phone’s design that reveals almost nothing, but it’s just enough for us to care. Bravo.
As you have seen from the top of this post, we have an image of the OnePlus Nord, pulled from a video that was shared with Android Authority. OnePlus has since posted the same video to Instagram, but the Instagram clip cuts off parts that only the special, shared wide version showed off. Clever.
The stills shared show off a phone that does indeed look like a OnePlus phone with alert slider. At one angle (below), you can see the faintest glimpse of a dual selfie camera, which has recently been rumored to be included. We also get the blurriest of shots of the back, showing a lengthy camera module that could be a quad-camera setup. For those of you following this saga from the beginning, yes, the design appears to have changed a bit since it first leaked back in December of 2019.
This design has brought out comparisons to the recently revealed realme X50 5G. realme is an OPPO-affiliated company, which means they are a part of BBK, the mega-electronics maker out of China that also happens to have some level of ownership in OnePlus. We point all of this out, because for years there was this running joke about the newest OPPO phone becoming the newest OnePlus phone. To see OnePlus possibly borrow a design from another of BBK’s companies would not be surprising, even if they seem hesitant to confirm any of this.
The specs for this realme X50 5G sure do match-up to what is expected in the OnePlus Nord. It runs the Snapdragon 765 5G, has a dual front selfie in the same spot seen here, 6.57″ display (1080p), 4200mAh battery with 30W fast charging, a quad-camera setup in the same spot teased by OnePlus, up to 12GB RAM, and up to 256GB storage. The only big difference is the 120Hz display on this X50 phone, while we think the OnePlus Nord will feature a 90Hz refresh rate.
And look, I’m not saying that OnePlus borrowing ideas from these companies is the worst thing. OnePlus makes great phones that run software we like and typically cost less than competitors. The OnePlus Nord could be a hell of a phone depending on the price.
Anyways, that’s the OnePlus Nord above!
- UPDATE: The full width video is on YouTube.
This post was last modified on July 3, 2020 10:56 am