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OnePlus has launched a new budget Android smartphone. The OnePlus Nord N20 5G is headed to the US later this month for $282. The device will be exclusively available through T-Mobile starting April 28th in a single blue color. It’s unclear if other carriers will also sell the new OnePlus phone.
OnePlus Nord N20 5G specifications
The OnePlus Nord N20 5G arrives as the successor to the Nord N10 5G that launched back in October 2020. It sports a boxy form factor with a sleeker rear design. Instead of a camera bump, this phone has each sensor protruding out of the body. This camera design has been appearing in more devices lately. We have a triple rear camera setup here, featuring a 64-megapixel primary shooter. The other two sensors include a monochrome lens and a macro lens. We don’t have the spec details of these two cameras though.
The latest budget offering from OnePlus brings upgrades over its predecessor in several key areas, including the display. We now have an AMOLED display instead of an LCD panel, with the punch-hole still sitting on the left. It’s a 6.43-inch panel with an FHD+ (1080p) resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate, which is, unfortunately, a downgrade from 90Hz on the N10 5G. This should be a well-thought cost-cutting measure from OnePlus, to switch to an AMOLED panel while reducing the refresh rate. The company has also included an always-on display feature as well as an under-display fingerprint scanner this time around.
Under the hood, the OnePlus Nord N20 5G has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor. The chipset is paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. If that’s not enough for you, you can expand the storage capacity by another 512GB via a microSD card. This phone packs a 4,500mAh battery with 33W fast charging via a USB Type-C port. OnePlus will include the charging brick in the retail box.
Solid hardware but, disappointingly, with Android 11
These specs sound pretty competitive for a phone that costs less than $300. Unfortunately, OnePlus is shipping the Nord N20 5G with Android 11 onboard. With Android 13 just a few months away, this is rather disappointing. When you realize that OnePlus’s software support isn’t too good (with some devices getting only one major Android OS update), this hits even harder. Hopefully, the OnePlus Nord N20 5G will get updates at least until Android 13. We should find that out once the device goes on sale.
