It’s no secret that OnePlus makes some of the best budget phones in the world, but even by the company’s typically high standards as far as bang for buck goes, the hot new Nord CE 4 is… something special. Slowly detailed pretty much in full in recent weeks, the affordable 6.7-inch Android giant has been properly unveiled earlier today (of all days) in India.
Unfortunately, we don’t believe a subsequent US release is in the cards, and if last year’s Nord CE 3 is any indication, you shouldn’t be very optimistic about European availability either. That means all we can do is look with envy and admiration at the single market where the 5G-capable Nord CE 4 is set to go on sale in just a few days starting at the rough equivalent of $300.
Great prices + awesome hardware = guaranteed success!
That’s 24,999 rupees, to be exact, and it’s enough to get you 128 gigs of internal storage space. If you want to bump that number up to 256GB, you’ll be able to do that on April 4 in exchange for Rs. 26,999, or around $325.
Both prices will include a complimentary pair of OnePlus Nord Buds 2r for an undoubtedly limited time, further improving an already outstanding value proposition. It’s hard to pick the most outstanding OnePlus Nord CE 4 detail of them all, but we could start listing this bad boy’s many strengths with a gargantuan 5,500mAh battery supporting blazing fast 100W SuperVOOC charging technology.
Believe it or not, that’s a larger battery and higher charging speed than what the ultra-high-end (and ultra-expensive) Galaxy S24 Ultra offers, and the same actually goes for a bunch of other big names on our list of the best Android phones money can buy in 2024.
Of course, the Nord CE 4’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor is not the most powerful in the industry, but for a mid-range device, it’s pretty great, beating the performance of the Exynos 1480 found inside Samsung’s new Galaxy A55 5G, for instance.
Both the aforementioned 128 and 256GB storage variants also come packing 8GB RAM, which is certainly nice for the sub-$400 segment, while that 6.7-inch display is of the high-quality AMOLED variety and can play Full HD content with 120Hz refresh rate support.
Then you have an almost surprisingly sophisticated 50MP main camera sensor from Sony paired with a more than respectable 8MP ultra-wide-angle shooter (also manufactured by Sony) on the back of this phone, as well as a decent (at the very least) 16MP front-facing snapper.
Not perfect, but definitely good enough
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 runs Android 14 with OxygenOS 14.0 atop on the software side of things, and its design is billed as both “durable” and “dazzling” with an eye-catching marble finish and above-average resistance to drops on hard surfaces like, well, marble.
OnePlus says that its newest phone is equipped with an “innovative Aqua Touch technology” as well, but while that aims to keep the Nord CE 4 up and running with water “droplets” on the screen, you should definitely leave the device outside the pool when you go in for a swim.
IP67 water and dust resistance might just be the only clear advantage the aforementioned Galaxy A55 5G mid-ranger holds over the cheaper OnePlus Nord CE 4, which makes us incredibly sad that a global release is unlikely to (ever) happen.
There aren’t a lot of rumors about an impending OnePlus Nord 4 or Nord N40 either, which means that the brand’s hardcore US fans, for instance, are left with the aging Nord N30 5G and the $500 high-end 12R as their only budget-friendly options.
