OnePlus is close to unveiling its new, budget handset that's poised to shake up the smartphone world by offering "OnePlus’ flagship-level product and user experience standards" at a more affordable price. To build up the hype in the run-up to the reveal, the Chinese company is releasing a four-part docuseries following the six-month development of the device.
The first episode dropped today and reveals the very attractive price for the OnePlus Nord, and officially confirms the name.
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OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has confirmed that the price of the OnePlus Nord will be below $500 (£407), saying:
"Nord will be our first product below $500 in recent years. For OnePlus and the whole team, it's a massive challenge."
This is a world away from the OnePlus 8 Series which starts at $699 / £599. This could make make it a real competitor to the iPhone SE, which starts from £419/$399 SIM-free with 64GB of storage. Although with marketing speak accounted for, "below $500" could easily be $499.
The focus is very much on making the "premium OnePlus experience accessible to more users," so if the features are there, the potential extra $100 between the budget iPhone SE and the OnePlus Nord might not be the deciding factor for customers.
This is where the camera may come into play. The iPhone SE sports just a single rear-facing camera, while the OnePlus Nord was rumoured to boast either a triple or quad camera array in addition to a dual front-facing camera. While the Nord wasn't shown off outright, we think we got a peek at it - which you can check out below:
Considering the Nord hasn't been properly unveiled, it could be that this was an early prototype. The handset pops up at a point in the documentary where the design is being discussed, and shows off a dual front-facing camera and what appears to be a triple-camera set-up on the back.
This section of the first episode was highlighted in the teaser trailer, and the smartphone we can see here was blurred indicating it was being kept under wraps. So it's unlikely that it's the final design. Speaking about the Nord's aesthetic, OnePlus' Matthias Czaja says:
"The visual identity is supposed to be inspired by the Scandavian sort of design. We think of it as very clean, and calm, and modern, and minimalistic."
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OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus Nord will be available in Europe and India at launch, which seems to be July 7, based on the snippet at the end of video which reads:
"Our journey continues July 7th."
Eager fans can follow the OnePlus Nord Instagram account to be in with a chance of placing one of 100 pre-orders that will open tomorrow, July 1.
Source: Instagram/ OnePlus
