OnePlus Nord CE 5 Review: Nice Upgrades, Nicer Price

The OnePlus Nord sequence brings some options seen on the corporate’s higher-end smartphones to the midrange section, together with incremental {hardware} upgrades over final 12 months’s fashions. This 12 months, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 has arrived with a extra highly effective processor and a a lot bigger battery than final 12 months’s Nord CE 4 mannequin. The handset can be outfitted with some OnePlus AI software program options. It competes with telephones just like the iQOO Z10, Motorola Edge 60 Fusion, Infinix GT 30 Pro, and Vivo T4 in India.

The new OnePlus Nord CE 5 is priced at Rs. 24,999, for the bottom mannequin with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There’s a 256GB storage variant that prices Rs. 26,999. However, if you’d like a variant with extra RAM, there is a 12GB+256GB mannequin that’s priced at Rs. 28,999. These costs are on par with different midrange smartphones with comparable specs, however how does the OnePlus Nord CE 5 fare towards the competitors? Read our OnePlus Nord CE 5 assessment to seek out out.

OnePlus Nord CE 5 Design: Looks Good, Easy to Grip

• Dimensions – 163.58 x 76 x 8.2 mm
• Weight – 199g
• Colours – Black Infinity, Marble Mist, Nexus Blue (Featured on this assessment)

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 assessment unit that the corporate despatched us is bluish, and it appears good at numerous angles. The rear panel and edges are manufactured from plastic. Like its predecessor, the handset has a twin rear digicam island positioned within the prime left nook of the rear panel, however the LED flash is now positioned to the fitting of the digicam module.

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 has a rear-mounted infrared (IR) transmitter

OnePlus has outfitted this handset with a single speaker, which is on the backside fringe of the telephone, subsequent to the USB Type-C port and the SIM tray. There’s a selfie digicam positioned within the prime centre of the 6.77-inch display on the OnePlus Nord CE 5, which has very slim bezels.

The quantity rocker and energy button are positioned on the fitting fringe of the handset. There’s no alert slider or Plus Key on the left edge. While the OnePlus Nord 5 has an infrared transmitter on the highest edge, it’s positioned between the 2 rear cameras on the Nord CE 5, so the rear panel should face the equipment you need to management. The telephone ships with an identical TPU cowl, a charger, and a SIM ejector software.

OnePlus Nord CE 5 Software: Smooth, Some AI Features

• Software – OxygenOS 15
• Version – Android 15
• Latest safety patch – June 1, 2025

Like its extra succesful sibling, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 runs on Android 15, and it has the corporate’s OxygenOS 15 pores and skin operating on prime. The telephone will obtain working system upgrades for 4 years and safety updates for six years, in keeping with OnePlus. This is fairly good for a handset on this worth section. The Nord CE 5 additionally presents assist for some AI options out there on each the Nord 5 and the OnePlus 13s.

OxygenOS 15 on the OnePlus Nord CE 5

The model of OxygenOS 15 on the OnePlus Nord CE 5 is easy and responsive, and it did not have points with greater than six apps operating within the background. Switching between apps is easy, and the one time I seen a little bit of stuttering was whereas utilizing the telephone outdoors on a sizzling day, whereas utilizing GPS navigation on Google Maps.

I noticed a immediate to put in Amazon, Cred, and Candy Crush Saga throughout the setup course of. If you forgot to deselect these bins, you may uninstall these apps after organising the telephone. I did not discover every other undesirable apps or bloatware on the telephone. It presents the identical software program expertise because the costlier OnePlus Nord 5.

The Nord CE 5 presents assist for brand spanking new OnePlus AI options

You can even entry new OnePlus AI options on the Nord CE 5. Unlike the OnePlus 13s and the brand new Nord 5, there isn’t any Plus Key to invoke the AI-powered fast save function. Instead, you need to swipe up utilizing three fingers to set off the identical motion. The telephone additionally presents a VoiceScribe function that offers you a abstract of recorded calls, and a screen-scanning translate function that’s principally dependable (I’ve included a pattern screenshot).

OnePlus Nord CE 5 Performance: Notable Performance Upgrades

• Processor – MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex
• Memory – Up to 12GB LPDDR5x
• Storage – 256GB UFS 3.1

The Dimensity 8350 Apex SoC on the OnePlus Nord CE 5 is a rebadged model of the identical chip that was launched by MediaTek final November, and it presents a notable bounce in efficiency over the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 on the Nord CE 4. If Geekbench scores are any indication, the Nord CE 5 presents 9 p.c and 25 p.c higher single-core and multi-core CPU efficiency, respectively.

Left to proper: AnTuTu v10, PCMark Work 3.0, Geekbench 6 (faucet to increase)

While you will not see these efficiency enhancements should you use each telephones for day-to-day duties, the sooner chip on the Nord CE 5 ought to provide higher long-term efficiency as apps demand extra assets sooner or later. The telephone can deal with virtually the whole lot you throw at it, from modifying 4K movies to operating quite a lot of common apps, and it feels as dependable as its costlier sibling, the OnePlus Nord 5.

I examined Call of Duty: Mobile, BGMI (with the graphics set to HD, Ultra), and Asphalt Legends Unite on the OnePlus Nord CE 5, and gameplay was easy and lag-free, even after about 40 minutes of uninterrupted gaming. Like the Nord 5, you may also use bypass charging with out pausing your recreation when the battery runs low.

Left to proper: PCMark Work 3.0 Battery, GFXBench 5.1, 3DMark (faucet to increase)

Here’s how the OnePlus Nord CE 5 fared on benchmark assessments like Geekbench, 3DMark, AnTuTu, PCMark, and GFXBench. You can even see how the telephone fares towards the Vivo T4, Nothing Phone 3a, and Motorola Edge 60 Fusion.

OnePlus has outfitted the Nord CE 5 with a 6.77-inch (1,080×2,392 pixels) OLED display with a refresh charge that switches between 60Hz and 120Hz, and as much as 300Hz contact sampling charge. It is Widevine L1 licensed, which implies which you could watch HD and HDR content material on Netflix and Prime Video.

I selected the Cinematic show color mode when organising the OnePlus Nord CE 5, however you may also choose the Standard or Vivid color modes for extra muted and saturated alternate options, respectively. The OnePlus Nord CE 5 can be utilized even in vibrant out of doors situations, and the show may be very responsive, even once I used the telephone with moist arms.

OnePlus has outfitted the Nord CE 5 with a 6.77-inch show

It’s greatest to show off the ProXDR setting within the Photos app, although, because it tends to use extra results whereas viewing photographs saved in your telephone. If you retain this function enabled, you will notice a distinct end result (the unique picture) when viewing the identical images on one other machine, like your pc.

OnePlus Nord CE 5 Cameras: A Decent Primary Camera

• Main digicam – 50-megapixel (f/1.8), OIS, as much as 4K/ 30fps video
• Ultrawide digicam – 8-megapixel (f/2.2)
• Selfie digicam – 16-megapixel, EIS, (f/2.4), as much as 1080p/ 60fps video

The main digicam options the identical Sony IMX600 as final 12 months’s Nord CE 4, capturing sharp photographs throughout the day. I did not discover any additional saturation or publicity points in most eventualities. Images with a number of blue do are typically a bit extra vibrant than the unique topics, however I fairly like how the pictures turned out usually. Photos taken at evening are additionally fairly first rate, however you have to to make sure that your topic stays nonetheless till the picture is captured.(*5*)

Top to backside: Rear digicam samples at 1x (main), 2x (in-sensor crop) zoom (Tap to increase)

It additionally helps a 2x zoom mode (in-sensor crop), permitting you to zoom in on topics which might be barely additional away. When capturing portraits, the 1x mode permits you to swap between 26mm and 35mm focal lengths, whereas the 2x zoom mode is locked to 51mm. In low-light eventualities, this telephone’s built-in evening mode presents efficiency that’s on par with the extra superior sensor on the OnePlus Nord 5, for topics that are not shifting rapidly.

You additionally get an ultrawide digicam with an OV08D10 sensor, and it captures sharp 8-megapixel photographs throughout the day, albeit with some warping on the edges in some pictures. Colours are principally in line with those captured utilizing the first digicam. At evening, photographs captured with this digicam lack element, leaving the handset’s digicam algorithms to cope with noise and poor color replica. It can be significantly slower than the first digicam at capturing photographs, so it is best to change to the first digicam for evening pictures.

Top to backside: Ultrawide digicam samples, a selfie and a portrait shot (Tap to increase)

The selfie digicam (Sony IMX480) on the OnePlus Nord CE 5 delivers high-quality selfies, and it does not apply any “beauty” options by default. During the day, it captures photographs with a number of element, whereas there’s some smoothening on selfies in low-light eventualities, in addition to on portrait photographs (2x) taken with the first digicam.

The man digicam helps optical picture stabilisation (OIS) at as much as 1080p/30fps. If you do not need to use the Ultra Steady mode, you may report video at 4K/ 60fps. The ultrawide digicam helps as much as 1080p/ 30fps video recording, however there isn’t any OIS. The selfie digicam can seize as much as 1080p/60fps video, which is restricted to 1080p/30fps in Ultra Steady mode.

OnePlus Nord CE 5 Battery: Two Days of Usage, One Hour to Charge

• Battery Capacity – 7,100mAh
• Wired Charging – 80W SuperVOOC (USB Type-C)

Smartphone batteries proceed to extend in dimension, and the Nord CE 5 boasts a notably massive 7,100mAh battery. This is without doubt one of the largest batteries to debut in a smartphone in 2025. In mixture with the environment friendly Dimensity 8350 chipset, the handset persistently delivered a minimum of two days of battery life on a single cost throughout my testing interval.

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 lacks twin stereo audio system

It took simply over an hour (between 65 and 68 minutes) to totally cost the OnePlus Nord CE 5 utilizing the included 80W SuperVOOC charger. The handset lasted for 27 hours and 10 minutes throughout our HD video battery loop check, and 17 hours and 44 minutes throughout the PCMark Work 3.0 battery check. As we recurrently level out in our evaluations, these are artificial assessments carried out in managed situations, and real-world battery life will differ primarily based in your utilization.

OnePlus Nord CE 5: Verdict

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 presents improved efficiency and higher battery life than its predecessor, whereas additionally offering a principally dependable set of cameras. The telephone can be slated to obtain 4 years of OS upgrades and 5 years of safety updates. Additionally, it presents helpful AI options, though it lacks the Plus Key out there on the OnePlus Nord 5.

The barely lacklustre ultrawide digicam and the dearth of stereo audio system are barely disappointing to see on this worth section. The greatest rivals of the OnePlus Nord 5 in the identical worth section embrace the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion (Review), Nothing Phone 3a (Review), Infinix GT 30 Pro 5G, and Vivo T4 5G (Review), and it is price studying our evaluations of those handsets earlier than buying your subsequent smartphone.

Disclosure: OnePlus sponsored the correspondent’s flights and resort for an occasion in Vietnam.