The OnePlus Nord 3 is an exciting prospect for fans of best OnePlus phones. It’s the newest mid-range handset from the company, after many budget spin-offs and alternatives to the OnePlus Nord 2.
As other mainline Nord devices have been, it is a more affordable take on the current OnePlus flagship, in this case the OnePlus 11. It’s priced so people get a new Android phone with a load of flagship features without paying top-shelf prices.
The Nord brand is OnePlus’ family of affordable and mid-range Android phones; designed to offer useful features that people actually want, tailored to budgets that don’t stretch to the company’s pricier powerhouses.
We’ve seen the original OnePlus Nord and Nord 2 joined by a whole host of spin-offs; including the OnePlus Nord 2T, OnePlus Nord CE 2, OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite, OnePlus Nord N10, OnePlus Nord N200, and more. The Nord 3 is the latest entry in that long line of low-priced goodness.
You’ll find everything we know about the OnePlus Nord 3 below.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The third generation of mid-range OnePlus phones
- When is it out? July 5
- How much will it cost? Around £399 (about $550, AU$750)
OnePlus Nord 3: release date and price
- Launched on July 5
- UK availability from August 17
- £499 for initial run
The OnePlus Nord 3 launched in July. The Nord 3 was priced at €449 for the 128GB with 8GB of RAM model and €549 for the 256GB with 16GB of RAM model. These convert roughly to £385, $490, and AU$750 for the 128GB model, and £470, $600, and AU$920. Due to “logistical challenges around customs” the OnePlus Nord 3 won’t be sold in the UK at launch, but the company eventually made the 256GB model available for £499 with hopes of an expansion in the coming weeks.
You can sort of guess how the other rough conversions would map based on that. At the same time, it is worth noting that the previous phones in the family series never launched in the US or Australia, so don’t hold your breath for releases in those regions.
OnePlus Nord 3: design and display
- Comes in Misty Green and Tempest Gray
- Large 6.74-inch 120Hz screen
- Alert slider
The OnePlus Nord 3 debuts as OnePlus’s best-looking Nord yet. It’s rather easy on the eyes. It’s your typical all-screen smartphone with a camera cut out in the center. It comes in Tempest Gray and Misty Green, or black and green. You can also see that the phone has an alert slider on the side, like many other OnePlus phones.
As with all modern phones, it’s a fairly large sized phone with a 6.74-inch display. It’s an OLED one with deep blacks, and content should scroll and slide really fast with its 120Hz refresh rate. For reference, the OnePlus Nord 2 had a 6.43-inch screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, so this new phone is both larger and smoother.
OnePlus Nord 3: specs and features
- A Dimensity 9000 chipset
- Up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage
The OnePlus Nord 2 has a Dimensity 9000 chipset, along with 12GB or 16GB of RAM, an in-screen fingerprint sensor, and up to 256GB of storage. The Dimensity 900 brings improvements to all aspects of the phone, notably gaming, and imaging (more on that below). It’s not quite the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that you’ll find in almost all the best Android phones, but it isn’t far off either.
OnePlus has equipped this phone with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of storage. This means you can expect the Nord 3 to hold up to 40 apps uninterrupted. We haven’t been able to test this, but that would track with our experience with other smartphones which have 16GB of RAM and a virtual RAM feature.
If you’re not that much into having the most smartphone you can buy and would be happy with the base model to save costs, you’re able get a OnePlus Nord 3 with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM instead.
OnePlus Nord 3: camera and battery
- The same 50MP main camera as the OnePlus 11
- A 5,000mAh battery with 80W charging
In what is a big win for the OnePlus Nord 3, the company has confirmed that it has the same 50MP Sony IMX890 main camera as the OnePlus 11, along with OIS (optical image stabilization).
In our OnePlus 11 review, we found the camera to be capable of capturing good portraits and landscapes, although it lacked detail and produced some fuzziness at the corners of close-up portrait images.
Additionally, OnePlus has incorporated some of Hasselblad’s color tuning in its camera features, these helped produce pleasing images, however, it’s unclear whether the Nord 3 will include the same Hasselblad tuning as the OnePlus 11; having the same sensor may not guarantee an identical imaging experience.
The other three cameras include an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP macro camera, and a 16MP front camera.
The Nord 3’s camera also benefits from the Dimensity 9000 processor, allowing for 4K 60fps video capture.
Battery-wise, the OnePlus Nord 3 is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery with 80W charging that’s just a little slower than the 100W the OnePlus 11 has. In practice, it’s quite fast, and you should get all-day battery and a full refill in less than an hour.