After OnePlus started appealing more to the premium market, the need for a separate mid-range lineup grew. Now, we are in the fourth generation of Nord phones, which maintain a relatively competitive price point, while offering most of what OnePlus is known for - speedy charging, competitive performance and fluent, feature-rich software.
With the Nord 4, however, OnePlus is adding one more key selling point into the mix without raising prices this year and that's the attractive design.
The company is particularly proud of the metal unibody design (although there's still some glass on the back) and we can see why. The phone feels and looks nice, but more importantly, it's a throwback to the distant OnePlus 3 and 3T phones with aluminum chassis. OnePlus said it had to overcome plenty of hurdles to use an aluminum casing for the phone, but more on that later.
OnePlus Nord 4 specs at a glance:
- Body: 162.9x75x8mm, 200g; Glass front, aluminum unibody; IP65, waterproof and dustproof.
- Display: 6.74" Fluid AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1240x2772px resolution, 20.12:9 aspect ratio, 451ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM7675 Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x2.8 GHz Cortex-X4 & 4x2.6 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3x1.9 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 732.
- Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
- OS/Software: Android 14, OxygenOS 14.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.95", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 112˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm.
- Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.4, 24mm (wide), 1.0µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 5500mAh; 100W wired, 1-100% in 26 min (advertised).
- Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.4, aptX HD, LHDC; NFC; Infrared port.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers, Alert Slider.
In addition to its standout design, the device also has capable hardware. The device is built around a 6.74-inch 120Hz OLED panel, borrowed from last year's Nord 3, and a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset.
The new Nord also gets the new Sony LYT-600 sensor, replacing the older IMX890 unit for the main camera. Whether this change makes up for a notable difference remains to be seen.
Last but not least, the OnePlus Nord 4 offers a big improvement in the battery department. The new unit powering up the Nord 4 is larger and charges faster than the predecessor. It has a 5,500 mAh battery (above the industry standard, usually 5,000 mAh) and 100W SuperVOOC fast charging support.
Unboxing the OnePlus Nord 4
The OnePlus Nord 4 comes in a fairly standard retail box with the usual user manuals and a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging and data transfer.
However, just like other recent releases from Oppo in Europe, the Nord 4
doesn't come with the appropriate proprietary 100W SuperVOOC charger.
You need to buy that separately. The Indian market does get the chager
bundled.