Phones

OnePlus Nord 2 vs OnePlus Nord: Specs, Leaks, Differences and Release Date

By Betty Joita

Posted on June 23, 2021

The OnePlus Nord 2 is yet to be officially announced with all the bells and whistles we would normally expect from this type of device but everyone is pretty sure the OnePlus smartphone sequel is just around the corner, thanks to more and more Nord 2 leaks making their way online.

Update 14/07/2021: OnePlus Nord 2 FIRST LOOK

OnePlus released the original Nord as some sort of a ‘flagship killer’ and, much to their credit, it worked. Since then, the company has been releasing Nord-branded devices left and right, though it seems that every time we expect the original’s successor to show up, OnePlus decides to surprise us with other smartphones, such as the OnePlus 9, Nord N10 5G, or the more recent Nord CE 5G.

At this point, it has become a bit of a running gag for smartphone enthusiasts, while at the same time being a point of frustration for many who are looking forward to a successor that will surpass the original.
Hopefully, the release date is just around the corner.

A while ago, One Plus announced its partnership with Google Stadia, which gave eligible users the Stadia Premiere Edition for free. Surprise of surprises, OnePlus Nord 2 was also spotted on the list of eligible devices.

Cr. Android Police

This was a mere slip-up on the company’s part… or was it? We can’t tell but the bird has left the nest, as they say, and everyone is excitedly looking forward to the device.

Possible OnePlus Nord 2 Release Dates

According to leakster Mukul Sharma, OnePlus was gearing up to launch two smartphones in June: one on or around June 10th, which proved to be the Nord CE 5G, and another on or around June 25th. Since Sharma has not been wrong about the date of the first device, he may be right about the second as well.

https://twitter.com/stufflistings/status/1397191895017742349

Normally, we would base our judgments on previous release times, but, considering Nord is a new phone line, we don’t have a well-established tradition for the time being. However, the OnePlus Nord did launch in August of 2020, so a July launch seems probable as well.

OnePlus Nord 2 Price and Availability

Again, we can only go by the OnePlus Nord 2’s predecessor when it comes to pricing. The OnePlus Nord launched with a price tag of around $480 / £379, so we can expect a similar price for the Nord 2. There has been a leak however, that pointed at a price tag of $310 / £220, which would make the device considerably cheaper than its predecessor. If you ask us, expect the OnePlus Nord 2 to go for anywhere between $300 to $400.

In a nutshell: it will be affordable! One of the selling points of the original Nord was its pricing, after all. In India, it retailed for ₹24,999 ($340), which made it one of the cheapest Android phones out there.

The original Nord was only available in certain regions and the U.S was not one of them nor Australia. However, the Nord line added more devices to its lineup in the meantime, most of which have seen releases in other regions.
This means that the Nord 2 will most likely make an appearance in the States and Australia as well. Fingers crossed!

OnePlus Nord 2 Specs and Features

Display and Storage

The device is said to come with a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, as well as an in-display fingerprint sensor, the same as the OnePlus Nord. It will have a choice of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage.

Cameras

The selfie snapper will be a 32MP (and may be joined by a secondary 8MP one) while on the back we will find a triple camera system made out of a 50MP primary sensor, coupled up with an 8MP sensor that will either be an ultra-wide or telephoto, and a 2MP one, which will be either a depth sensor or a macro.

Allegedly, the 50MP camera will be the same Sony IMX766 used for the ultra-wide lens on the OnePlus 9 Pro.

Do your math and you will see we’re one lens less than the original device! This might either be a good sign or not, depending on how OnePlus decides to play it. The OnePlus Nord’s cameras, while they were just fine, they did not deliver to the point where the quantity reflected the quality. This time, OnePlus might be aiming for quality over quantity instead, so we’re curious to see how that will play out.

Battery and Charging

The OnePlus Nord had a 4,115mAh battery but it’s said that the Nord 2 will have a 4,500mAh which is now, more or less, the industry standard. We could also get 65W fast charging with this phone, which would significantly reduce the time spent waiting for your phone to charge.

The original Nord had an average battery life, lasting for about a day of use, but never more than that; so hopefully, if this rumor proves to be right, we will see some improvements in this department as well.

Hardware

The phone will have a MediaTek chipset under the hood: the Dimensity 1200, which was unveiled earlier this year. It will be the very first OnePlus smartphone to choose MediaTek over the Qualcomm Snapdragon.

The chipset is built on a 6nm node and has a prime Cortex A78 core that goes up to 3.0GHz. Three other additional A78’s go up to 2.6GHz while four Cortex A55 go up to 2.0GHz.

In addition to that, the graphics are dealt with by Arm Mali-G77 GPU with nine cores, global 5G connectivity with 5G dual SIM standby. MediaTek has also added the HyperEngine 3.0 gaming suite into the mix, for better gaming performance.

According to MediaTek, the chipset offers 22% faster CPU performance and is 25% more power-efficient than its predecessors.

The chipset itself is quite a win for MediaTek, who used to struggle meeting its rival Qualcomm on level ground, but times are changing for the company and the Dimensity series is helping with that change. However, we don’t expect this improvement to reflect too much in the final cost of the device, as MediaTek’s chipsets are still most likely more affordable than Qualcomm’s.

This is all the information we have about the OnePlus Nord 2 smartphone for now. But we are slowly approaching the leaked announcement date and looking forward to what other rumors might come out in the meantime.

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Stay tuned – we’ll update this article with more information in the days to come!