Teasers for the OnePlus Nord 3 and some other new OnePlus devices have been posted on the company's website, showing some of the ways the new Nord could take on the Google Pixel 7a or the Samsung Galaxy A54.
As well as the selection of specs, OnePlus notes the new Nord devices will launch on July 5. However, we'll apparently see more information revealed on July 1 to keep us going until reveal day.
On to the specs. The OnePlus Nord 3 will be coming with a 6.74-inch display (described as 17.12cm on the page for some reason), which has a 120Hz refresh rate. It's a flat display too, which is a nice confirmation for users who don't get on with curved edges on their smartphones. At this size, it's a whole lot larger than the equivalent Samsung or Google phones, which depending on how you look at it is good value or just impractical.
On the other side of the phone, OnePlus tells us we'll find a 50MP camera with optical image stabilization. The OnePlus Nord 2T, the last phone in this family, came with a 50MP OIS-enabled main camera too, but OnePlus has updated the sensor for Sony's newer IMX980 model on the Nord 3, which will hopefully bring some photography improvements that can fight the 50MP and 64MP main snappers on the Galaxy A54 and Pixel 7a respectively.
There's no mention of the other camera sensors on the Nord 3 in this teaser page. But it looks like we'll get another two on the back, plus the mandatory selfie camera. Those rear cameras, going by previous Nords, will likely serve ultrawide and depth-sensing roles.
Perhaps most importantly for OnePlus fans, the unique alert slider is confirmed to be present on the Nord 3. This vibrate/mute switch used to be a staple feature of OnePlus phones, but some models like the OnePlus 10T or OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite, do not use it, explaining why OnePlus is making a big deal of it here.
The Nord 3's colors are shown off too. Those are Tempest Gray and Misty Green, which fill OnePlus' typical combination of gray/black and green colors for its phones.
A second phone and new earbuds too
As well as the Nord 3, OnePlus will be showing off the even cheaper Nord CE 3 5G at the upcoming event. The teaser site explains this phone will be available in Aqua Surge, a blue colorway, and come with a Snapdragon 782G chipset and a 6.7-inch 120Hz screen.
There's also the Nord Buds 2r, a new pair of wireless earbuds. These are shown to come in Deep Gray and Triple Blue colorways, 12.4mm dynamic drivers and dual microphones with AI smarts to make your voice clearer over calls.
It's not long to wait until we get the full details of these phones and earbuds, but already these phones are shaping up to be fine new installments in the OnePlus Nord line-up. They likely won't make it to the U.S., which gets its own range of Nords, but for U.K. and European users, these could prove challengers for Google and Samsung's best if the specs are solid and the price is right.
