What you need to know
- OnePlus could bring the Nord CE 3 Lite to the United States.
- The phone will apparently be rebranded as the OnePlus Nord N30 5G, while keeping the same spec sheet as the original model.
- It will presumably be available via OnePlus itself and T-Mobile.
OnePlus recently expanded its Nord line of low-cost phones with the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G, which sits somewhere in the middle of the company's smartphone lineup. While only the European and Indian markets were mentioned as target markets during the launch event, new evidence suggests that it will also be available in the United States.
The phone will be sold in the country as the OnePlus Nord N30 5G, according to a OnePlus Community forum post by someone who goes by the handle Some_Random_Username. If this is accurate, the device will succeed the OnePlus Nord N20, which is one of the best sub-$300 Android phones.
The source made the conclusion after digging through the phone's OxygenOS build, A.07, which gave away OnePlus' plans to introduce a rehashed variant of the device stateside (via Phone Arena). Both the Nord CE 3 Lite and the Nord N30 5G have the same project ID, as seen in the screenshot below, implying that they're one and the same.
Like the N20 5G, the Nord CE 3 Lite includes a 6nm-based Snapdragon 695 chipset. On the other hand, the latest model has 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage, versus the previous model's 6GB/128GB configuration.
OnePlus' latest budget phone is also a step up from last year's model in many ways. For instance, it boasts a 108MP main sensor complemented by two 2MP depth and macro shooters. It’ll be interesting to see how the cameras fare against the competition, which is currently dominated by mid-range devices like the excellent Google Pixel 6a.
The appeal of the recent wave of mid-range smartphones is that they make some of the better features of their premium counterparts available to the masses at a fraction of the price. The Nord N30 5G looks set to carry on that trend.
The phone may be available in the U.S. through both OnePlus and T-Mobile, although we don't know the exact price yet. The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G retails in Europe for €330/£300, and if the N30 5G is to be its U.S. variant, it'll likely cost less than $300.
The new OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is a low-cost phone with an impressive 108MP camera for lossless zoom. It has a 120Hz display for smooth animations, and the 67W charging will quickly charge you up.
