OnePlus Nord 5 review – GSMArena.com tests

Introduction and specs

The OnePlus Nord 5 offers a handful of new upgrades and a completely revamped design, more aligned with the current design trends but still crafted tastefully.

In fact, the new Nord 5 has an iPhone-esque vibe. Okay, maybe not in the sense of the iPhone Pros, but the vanilla iPhone. More importantly, OnePlus didn’t go crazy with the camera island, unlike most smartphone makers.

This year’s Nord also really packs a punch. It’s the first in the Nord family to feature a Snapdragon 8 series chipset. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is quite powerful and offers near-flagship-level GPU performance on a budget.

OnePlus has fitted the Nord 5 with a matching display, making it the first OnePlus to offer a 144Hz display. But it’s not only faster but also bigger, too, measuring 6.83″ in diagonal.

As for battery capacity, the Indian market will enjoy the top capacity of 6,800mAh. The Chinese version of the phone is dubbed OnePlus Ace Ultra, and it, too, comes with an extra-large battery pack.

OnePlus Nord 5 • OnePlus Ace 5 Ultra

We are reviewing the European spec device, however, and it comes with a paltry 5,200 mAh cell. That’s even a slight downgrade from last year’s Nord 4, which had a 5,500 mAh battery. Go figure!

OnePlus Nord 5 5G specs at a glance:

• Body: 163.4×77.0x8.1mm, 211g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 7i), glass back, plastic frame; IP65 dust tight and water resistant (low pressure water jets).
• Display: 6.83″ Swift AMOLED, 1B colors, 144Hz, 3840Hz PWM, HDR10+, 800 nits (typ), 1400 nits (HBM), 1800 nits (peak), 1272x2800px resolution, 19.81:9 aspect ratio, 450ppi; Ultra HDR image support.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8635 Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.0 GHz Cortex-X4 & 4×2.8 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3×2.0 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 735.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 15, up to 4 major Android upgrades, OxygenOS 15.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 116˚, 1/4.0″, 1.12µm, AF.
• Front camera: 50 MP, f/2.0, 21mm (wide), 1/2.76″, 0.64µm, AF.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps; gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 5200mAh (6,800 mAh in India); Charging: 80W wired, 33W PPS, 18W PD, 100% in just 54 min, 5W reverse wired, Bypass charging.
• Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.4, aptX HD, LHDC 5; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers; Circle to Search.

Another novelty is the new Plus Key replaces the good old Alert Slider, kinda like Apple replaced it with an Action key on the iPhone. The Plus Key still functions as a switch between different sound profiles by default, but you can also you can assign other actions to it, such as taking a screenshot, translating text, recording audio, launching the camera, activating the flashlight, or summoning the AI Plus Mind tool.

The camera system has also received some love this year, with the Nord bringing a significant upgrade in the selfie department. It’s now wider and supposedly sharper thanks to a bigger 50MP sensor.

It looks like OnePlus is aiming at the all-rounder title in the segment with the Nord 5, but competition is still pretty strong in the €500-600 tier. Let’s see how it stacks against its rivals.

Unboxing the OnePlus Nord 5

We received the European variant, so the retail box is quite modest. The handset comes with the usual user manuals and includes only a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging and data transfer. There’s no charger in the box or a protective case.

The Indian retail package contains the appropriate 80W SuperVOOC power adapter and a protective case.