If you’re after a new midrange Android phone that plays it safe, then you’re in luck—OnePlus recently unveiled the Nord 5, which hits markets soon at a price of around $680 (when converted).
The launch of the OnePlus Nord 4 from a while back showed that manufacturers like OnePlus were still willing to revisit older smartphone design trends such as all-metal designs, although it seems that the company has changed its mind with the launch of the Nord 5. This time around, OnePlus went back to a more “standard” glass-backed design with IP65 dust and water protection.
One key difference with other OnePlus phones is the absence of the alert slider on the Nord 5, which has since gone the way of the dodo—instead, OnePlus has decided to stick an action button on the Nord 5, which works pretty similarly to what Apple is doing with its custom Action Button.
This design wraps around a 6.83-inch AMOLED display, which packs a resolution of 1272×2800 pixels, in addition to a 144Hz refresh rate and 1800 nits of peak brightness. Inside, the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip, which according to OnePlus has been optimized specially for the Nord 5. Storage and RAM options begin with your usual 256GB + 8GB configuration, although there’s a more expensive variant with 512GB + 12GB available.
Other specs include a 5200 mAh battery with 80W fast-charging support, and a camera setup which includes a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 50MP camera for selfies and video calls. OnePlus has also loaded the Nord 5 with a ton of AI software features, which are baked into OxygenOS on top of Android 15.
