OnePlus basically birthed the concept of "flagship killer." While it strayed away from the "never settle" motto by launching the mid-range Nord series — and diversifying over the last three years, the Nord 3 marks a return to the original philosophy.

OnePlus Nord 3 specs

  • 6.74-inch AMOLED, 2772 x 1240 pixels, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, HDR10+
  • MediaTek Dimensity 9000
  • 8/16GB RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
  • 50MP + 8MP + 2MP rear cameras, 16MP for selfies
  • 5000mAh battery, 80W fast charging
  • 162 x 75.1 x 8.15mm, 193.5 grams
OnePlus Nord 3 smartphone in Misty Green colour, MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset, 16GB, 80 watts SuperVOOC fast charging.
Misty "Green" OnePlus Nord 3; Credits: Athenil Media

The OnePlus Nord 3, in many ways, contends for a flagship killer's title. The first one is the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip, which, although a generation old, offers enough vigor for enjoyable experiences around gaming, photography, and entertainment. The chip is paired to 16GB of physical RAM — a number not inflated on the back of gimmicky virtual RAM features.

On the backside, the Nord 3 has a triple camera setup and utilizes the 50MP IMX890 sensor borrowed from the OnePlus 11 — sans the Hasselblad color tuning. It also has an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro shooter on the back with a 16MP selfie camera on the front.

You get two colour options — Tempest Grey and Misty Green. Besides the Gorilla Glass 5 over the screen, there's glass on the back as well.

OnePlus pre-loads the Nord 3 with OxygenOS 13.1 based on Android 13 and promises three platform upgrades and four years of security updates.

OnePlus Nord 3 smartphone in Misty Green colour, MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset, 16GB, 80 watts SuperVOOC fast charging.
OnePlus Nord 3 above OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Tab

The Nord 3 has much to share with the OnePlus 11R — another flagship killer recently added to OnePlus's portfolio. But there are some noticeable cutbacks, like the flat display instead of the curved one — despite the same 1.5K resolution and adaptive refresh rate. Charging is slower at 80 watts instead of 100 on the 11R, but those are forgivable differences considering you now have two great OnePlus phones to choose from in the sub-40k segment.

The OnePlus Nord 3 sets a high bar for the Nord 5 (because Chinese companies tend to skip the number 4 because it's bad luck in their culture) with its flagship killer features. Returning to a mid-range chipset will be suicide, but gladly for OnePlus, there are more phones than one can easily recall to fill up that — like the OnePlus Nord CE 3 which also launches today.

The OnePlus Nord 3 is priced at ₹33,999 for the 8GB/128GB model, while the 16GB/256GB comes in for ₹37,999. Nord 3 goes on sale starting July 15th on Amazon India and OnePlus India online store. Early bird offers include ₹1,000 in a discount on ICICI bank cards and a free pair of Nord truly wireless earbuds.

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