OnePlus Nord CE 5 Review: Nice Upgrades, Nicer Price

The OnePlus Nord collection brings some options seen on the corporate’s higher-end smartphones to the midrange section, together with incremental {hardware} upgrades over final yr’s fashions. This yr, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 has arrived with a extra highly effective processor and a a lot bigger battery than final yr’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 would 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 related specs, however how does the OnePlus Nord CE 5 fare towards the competitors? Read our OnePlus Nord CE 5 evaluation to search 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 evaluation)

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 evaluation unit that the corporate despatched us is bluish, and it seems good at varied angles. The rear panel and edges are made from plastic. Like its predecessor, the handset has a twin rear digital camera island situated within the prime left nook of the rear panel, however the LED flash is now situated to the fitting of the digital camera 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 cellphone, subsequent to the USB Type-C port and the SIM tray. There’s a selfie digital camera situated 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 situated 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 situated between the 2 rear cameras on the Nord CE 5, so the rear panel should face the equipment you wish to management. The cellphone ships with an identical TPU cowl, a charger, and a SIM ejector instrument.

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 cellphone will obtain working system upgrades for 4 years and safety updates for six years, in line with OnePlus. This is fairly good for a handset on this value section. The Nord CE 5 additionally provides help for some AI options obtainable 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 clean and responsive, and it did not have points with greater than six apps operating within the background. Switching between apps is clean, and the one time I seen a little bit of stuttering was whereas utilizing the cellphone 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 through the setup course of. If you forgot to deselect these bins, you possibly can uninstall these apps after organising the cellphone. I did not discover every other undesirable apps or bloatware on the cellphone. It provides the identical software program expertise because the dearer OnePlus Nord 5.

The Nord CE 5 provides help for brand new OnePlus AI options

You may entry new OnePlus AI options on the Nord CE 5. Unlike the OnePlus 13s and the brand new Nord 5, there is not 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 cellphone additionally provides a VoiceScribe function that provides 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 provides 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 provides 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 if you happen to use each telephones for day-to-day duties, the quicker chip on the Nord CE 5 ought to provide higher long-term efficiency as apps demand extra assets sooner or later. The cellphone can deal with nearly all the pieces you throw at it, from modifying 4K movies to operating quite a lot of fashionable apps, and it feels as dependable as its dearer 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 clean and lag-free, even after about 40 minutes of uninterrupted gaming. Like the Nord 5, it’s also possible to use bypass charging with out pausing your sport 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 may see how the cellphone 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 fee that switches between 60Hz and 120Hz, and as much as 300Hz contact sampling fee. It is Widevine L1 licensed, which implies that you would be able to 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 it’s also possible to choose the Standard or Vivid color modes for extra muted and saturated options, respectively. The OnePlus Nord CE 5 can be utilized even in shiny out of doors situations, and the show could be very responsive, even after I used the cellphone 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 further results whereas viewing photographs saved in your cellphone. If you retain this function enabled, you will notice a unique end result (the unique picture) when viewing the identical photographs on one other machine, like your laptop.

OnePlus Nord CE 5 Cameras: A Decent Primary Camera

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

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

Top to backside: Rear digital camera 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 allows you to change between 26mm and 35mm focal lengths, whereas the 2x zoom mode is locked to 51mm. In low-light eventualities, this cellphone’s built-in evening mode provides efficiency that’s on par with the extra superior sensor on the OnePlus Nord 5, for topics that are not transferring rapidly.

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

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

The selfie digital camera (Sony IMX480) on the OnePlus Nord CE 5 delivers high-quality selfies, and it would 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 digital camera.

The man digital camera helps optical picture stabilisation (OIS) at as much as 1080p/30fps. If you do not wish to use the Ultra Steady mode, you possibly can file video at 4K/ 60fps. The ultrawide digital camera helps as much as 1080p/ 30fps video recording, however there is not any OIS. The selfie digital camera can seize as much as 1080p/60fps video, which is proscribed 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 likely 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 not less than 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 completely 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 through the PCMark Work 3.0 battery check. As we often level out in our evaluations, these are artificial assessments carried out in managed situations, and real-world battery life will range based mostly in your utilization.

OnePlus Nord CE 5: Verdict

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

The barely lacklustre ultrawide digital camera and the shortage of stereo audio system are barely disappointing to see on this value section. The greatest rivals of the OnePlus Nord 5 in the identical value 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 lodge for an occasion in Vietnam.