Skip to main content

OnePlus shares first details of the upcoming Nord N20

OnePlus today shared a first look at the OnePlus Nord N20 5G, its upcoming budget phone. The company confirmed renders that had found their way online last year, as well as confirmed plans to use an AMOLED display on the budget phone in an interview with tech publication PCMag.

With the Nord N10 and N100, OnePlus prioritized high-refresh rates, offering a smoother scrolling experience while using the phone. As a sacrifice, it used LCD instead of AMOLED. AMOLED displays are preferred due to offering richer contrast, deeper blacks, and power savings, hence why they are almost universally adopted on premium smartphones. OnePlus will be offering a 60Hz display with the Nord N20 this time. You’ll get a nice-looking display, but it just won’t feel as fast.

The company also shared renders that showed us our first look at the device. It’s a modern-looking phone with squared-off edges, two cameras, and a capacious screen with only a single hole punch in lieu of a notch or more obtrusive cutouts.

Renders of the upcoming OnePlus Nord N20.
PCMag

“Our 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display offers low power consumption as well as better contrast, more vivid colors, and a wider color gamut than what is currently on sale in the North America affordable device market,” OnePlus’s COO Kinder Liu told PcMag, further adding: “Our OnePlus Nord devices for North America, Europe, and India deliver our signature software experience, great performance, and more for their respective price points. We are confident that all the devices in our OnePlus Nord series are competitive in their respective markets at their respective price point.”

Aside from what OnePlus has confirmed, other rumored specs for the Nord N20 include a snapdragon 695 chip, a 48megapixel main camera, a pair of 2MP secondary cameras, a 16MP front-facing camera, and an in-display fingerprint sensor.

The OnePlus Nord series has been praised for taking OnePlus back to its roots as an affordable alternative to increasingly expensive rivals. The Nord N-series, in particular, is OnePlus’s attempt to move away from strictly being a phone for enthusiasts to be one that can be purchased by people who just want a decently specced smartphone for little cost. It’s more of a rival to Samsung’s lower-end A-Series phones where the Nord 2 and Nord CE 2 take on the A52 and A53.

The OnePlus Nord N20 is expected to launch towards the end of this month. It’ll likely be priced at around the same $300 mark as the Nord N10.

Editors' Recommendations

Michael Allison
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
OnePlus just fixed a big issue with the OnePlus Watch 2
Person wearing OnePlus Watch 2 with a green strap on their left wrist.

Owners of the OnePlus Watch 2 are about to receive a new software update that will improve the smartwatch in one key way. The OHealth v4.21.5 update adds a data migration feature that allows switching phones without losing health data, which wasn't possible previously. Android Authority first spotted the update.

Google's Wear OS 4 launched with the new data migration feature. However, it wasn't available on the OnePlus Watch 2 until now. Once you install the update, you can see a new option called "Migrate data" in the profile settings. To use this new tool, your old and new phones must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. You will also need to scan a QR code to initialize the migration process. If you are logged into the OHealth app, make sure that you sign in to the same account on both devices before migrating the data.

Read more
The OnePlus Watch 2 is the Wear OS smartwatch I’ve been waiting for
Person wearing OnePlus Watch 2 with a green strap on their left wrist.

The OnePlus Watch 2 -- the company's first Wear OS watch -- has entered a market that Samsung dominates. However, OnePlus' popularity as a smartphone brand can be expected to bring small, yet meaningful changes that benefit not only OnePlus users, but all of the Wear OS segment in general.

For almost a decade, Samsung and Apple have predominantly been the default options if you want a smartwatch that is actually useful and goes beyond flashy features. With Samsung shifting gears and migrating from its own Tizen OS to the (relatively) more universal Wear OS platform and Google releasing its own Pixel Watch after struggling with an identity crisis in the smartwatch world, the platform has much more traction than it did a few years ago. As OnePlus carves its way into the segment, it has the opportunity to entice people who don't wish to live within Samsung's limitations when using a Galaxy Watch with another brand's phone.

Read more
Don’t buy the OnePlus 12 — 6 reasons to wait for the OnePlus 13
OnePlus 12 in hand with OnePlus 12R in the background.

OnePlus 12 Prakhar Khanna / Digital Trends

OnePlus has made a significant name for itself in recent years with some of the best Android phones out there. Its most recent endeavor, the OnePlus 12, is a fantastic flagship for anyone who wants something that's not just another Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone.

Read more