OnePlus has made a name for itself not just with its high-end flagship phones but with its budget-oriented Nord lineup as well. The company’s midrange phones have brought many features from flagship OnePlus devices to the masses at a significantly lower cost. Now, after afew weeks of teasing, OnePlus has announced its first budget smartphone of 2023: the Nord CE 3 Lite. The phone builds on last year’s CE 2 Lite and packs some key upgrades while retaining the same bang for the buck that made the Nord series so popular.
OnePlus has equipped the Nord CE 3 Lite with a 6.72-inch 120Hz FHD+ LCD panel. This is the largest display the company has ever used in a Nord phone. The 8.3mm thick phone has flat edges with a textured finish on the curved back to ensure it does not slip easily from your hands.
Running inside the CE 3 Lite is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 5G SoC. Thesame chip is also found inside last year’s Nord CE 2 Lite. Fabricated on a 6nm node, the chip houses an 8-core Kyro 660 CPU clocked at 2.2GHz, an Adreno 619 GPU, and a Snapdragon X51 5G modem.
Powering the phone is a 5,000mAh battery with 67W fast charging support dubbed SuperVOOC Endurance Edition, which OnePlus claims is typically found in its flagship phones. The company says the tech will top up the phone’s battery to 80% in 30 minutes, with charging speed slowing down afterward to help increase the battery’s lifespan and health.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
128GB, microSD card slot
6.72-inch FHD+ LCD, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
Rear cameras
108MP Samsung HM6 primary; 2MP depth-assist; 2MP macro
Front camera
16MP, f/2.0
5000mAh, 67W SuperVOOC Endurance Edition
OxygenOS 13.1 (Android 13)
Dual hybrid nano-SIM, Wi-Fi 6, Stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Pastel Lime, Chromatic Gray
£299, €329, Rs 19,999
At the rear, the Nord CE 3 Lite houses three cameras, though only one of them is actually useful. The 108MP primary shooter — a first for a Nord phone — provides a claimed 3x lossless zoom and can record slow-motion video. This is paired with a 2MP depth camera and a 2MP macro shooter. For selfies, there’s a 16MP camera.
On the software front, the Nord CE 3 Lite will launch withAndroid 13-based OxygenOS 13.1. The latest version of OnePlus’s skin includes several gaming-focused features like Quick Startup, Game Focus Mode, and GPA Frame stabilizer.
Like previous CE phones, the Nord CE 3 Lite is unlikely to launch in the US. It will, however, go up for sale in India on April 11, with Europe and the UK following shortly after.
