Rumors about OnePlus working on two low-cost smartphones have been around for quite some time now. Both phones leaked in their entirety a few days ago. The leak also prophesized that OnePlus would make the OnePlus Nord N100 and Nord N10 5G on October 26. OnePlus has slyly released both phones on its website, without the usual fanfare that has always accompanied its product releases.
The OnePlus Nord N10 5G is, for all practical purposes, a scaled-down OnePlus Nord. As foretold by earlier reports, it is the world’s first smartphone to run Qualcomm’s 5G-ready Snapdragon 690 SoC. However, its rear camera array is a tad better than the OnePlus Nord, as it employs a 64MP wide-angle lens as its primary sensor (the Nord has a 48MP lens). The remaining lenses -8MP ultrawide, 5MP depth, 2MP macro- are identical across both smartphones. The Nord N10 5G ditches its sibling’s dual-selfie camera setup and settles for a single 16MP lens.
OnePlus is one of the few OEMs that is committed to bringing high-refresh-rate displays to the mid-range. The Nord N10 5G comes with a 6.4-inch FHD IPS LCD panel clocked at 90Hz. A layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protects the display that has no official IP rating. Its 4,300mAh battery supports fast charging at up to 30W. At €329 (US$388), the OnePlus Nord N10 5G is only marginally cheaper than its better-specced sibling. There appears to be only one variant of the device with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. OnePlus will announce its North American price and availability soon.
Unlike the OnePlus Nord N10 5G, the OnePlus Nord N100 is in no way comparable to the original Nord. Retailing at €179 (US$211), it is the first ‘budget’ OnePlus phone to hit the shelves since the company’s inception. It bears all the marking of an entry-level device, with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The marginally large 6.5-inch IPS LCD panel has an HD+ resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. One of the most significant differences between the Nord N10 5G and Nord N100 is in its cameras, with the latter using a triple camera array (13MP wide-angle, 2MP macro, 2MP depth) that is a lot less formidable than the former’s setup. Thankfully, the phone’s colossal 5,000mAh battery supports fast charging at 18W.
Apart from the obvious compromises in the type of panel used, camera setup, and hardware, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G and N100 also lack some minor features. The under-display fingerprint sensor is replaced with a rear-mounted capacitive model. Support for aptX HD is absent on both phones too. Interestingly enough, OnePlus has opted to ship these devices with stereo speakers, which the Nord lacks.