OnePlus India recently introduced its 3rd gen Nord Series smartphones with the Nord 3 5G as a successor to the last year’s Nord 2 5G. The OnePlus Nord Series includes two main smartphones – the Nord 3 5G and the Nord CE3 5G, the Nord 3 G is the higher-end sibling highlighting its 120 Hz 1.5K AMOLED display, flagship-grade MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC with up to 16 GB LPDDR5X RAM, 50 MP Sony IMX890 camera, and 80W SuperVOOC fast charging. Compared to its predecessor Nord 2 5G, there are significant upgrades in the display, cameras, CPU, fast charging, battery, and more. Here’s more about the smartphone in our OnePlus Nord 3 5G review.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Specifications & Features
- Display & Design: 6.74-inch Super Fluid AMOLED display, 10-bit color depth (1.07B colors), 2772 x 1240 pixels resolution, 450 ppi pixel density, 120 Hz dynamic refresh rate (40 Hz – 120 Hz), 1,000 Hz touch sampling rate, 1,450 nits peak brightness, 93.5% screen-to-body ratio, aspect ratio of 20.1:9, sRGB support, Display P3, HDR10+, 8.1 mm thickness, 193.5 grams weight
- Software: OxygenOS 13.1 interface, Android 13 operating system
- CPU: 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC (MT6983) clocked up to 3.05 GHz (ARM Cortex-X2, Cortex-A710, Cortex-A510 CPU)
- GPU: Mali-G710 MC10 Graphics
- Memory: 8 GB OR 16 GB LPDDR5X RAM, +12 GB RAM via RAM-Vita feature
- Storage: 128 GB OR 256 GB UFS 3.1 internal storage, no microSD card support
- Main Camera: Triple cameras (50 MP f/1.8 24 mm Sony IMX890 OIS, 1/1.56″, 1.0 µm primary + 8 MP f/2.2 Sony IMX355, 1.12 µm ultra-wide-angle 112° FOV + 2 MP f/2.4 macro), 6P lenses, PDAF, OIS + EIS, up to 4K@30fps, 0.6x – 20x zoom, single LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 16 MP f/2.4, 1080p @30fps
- Others: In-display fingerprint scanner, face unlock, stereo speakers, IR Blaster, Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res Audio, Hi-Res Audio (Wireless), X-axis linear motor, 4D haptic vibration
- Cellular: 5G network, dual SIM, VoLTE support
- Battery & Charging: 5,000 mAh battery, 80W SuperVOOC fast charging, 60% in 15 minutes
- Colors: Tempest Gray, Misty Green
- Price: ₹33,999 (8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage), ₹37,999 (16 GB RAM + 256 GB storage)
- Availability: 15th July 2023 on Amazon India, OnePlus India’s official website, OnePlus Experience Stores, and authorized retail stores.
- Offers: Flat ₹1,250 instant discount on HDFC bank credit cards and One Card (Flipkart), ₹500 instant discount on One Card (OnePlus.in & Amazon.in), no-cost EMI for up to 6 months (leading banks), up to ₹2,160.04 no-cost EMI (9 months) interest savings on HDFC Bank Credit Cards. Extended 1-year warranty at ₹99, additional ₹1,000 discount on Redcoins, earn 2X Redcoins on purchase, free Nord Buds on purchase of OnePlus Nord 3 5G from 15 July till stock lasts. Benefits for JioPlus (Postpaid) users on the ₹399 plan for up to ₹4,500 which includes an additional 100 GB data (additional 10 GB data per month for 10 months) worth ₹1,000, and additional coupons worth ₹3,500 from Swiggy, Ajio, Ferns, and Petals, Ixigo, Abhibus, and ET Prime valid from 15th July 2023.
The OnePlus Nord 3 5G is the top-of-the-line smartphone under the 3rd gen Nord Series while the OnePlus Nord CE3 5G is the tone-down variant. The company has already launched the Lite variant – OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G a few months ago. OnePlus India also launched two audio accessories – OnePlus Buds 2r and OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z2 ANC alongside these two smartphones.
Design, Display, & Build Quality
Starting off with its design, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G is a stunner when it comes to the design, with a flat-edge streamlined construction that looks and feels highly premium. It uses a 2.8D silk glass cover with a frosted texture that is anti-glare and anti-fingerprint which made us convinced. Don’t underestimate its design, it uses solid metallic frames, a premium super-smooth silk glass back with minimal camera bump, all that appears to be like it belongs to the expensive category. OnePlus Nord 3 5G wins on the design part, hands down.
The OnePlus Nord 3 5G comes in two color variants – Tempest Gray, and Misty Green which has a subtle glossy celadon glass finish while the former uses a matte finish glass design. Its slim and flat-edge design is more refined compared to any of the past OnePlus designs we know. It’s 8.1 mm thin and weighs about 193.5 grams, and it simply gives you a feel of a slim form factor.
For its display, the Nord 3 5G comes with minimalist bezels, you can see in the images we have shared, there’s too much of the display and neglectable bezels on the phone which gives you a great viewing experience. The large display also provides you with more screen area.
The display is a 6.74-inch Super Fluid AMOLED display with a resolution of 1.5K i.e. 2772 x 1240 pixels (450 ppi pixel density), 10-bit color depth (1.07B colors), and a dynamic refresh rate of 120 Hz (40 Hz – 120 Hz). The 1.5K means it’s slightly lower than 2K but higher than the Full HD+. This not only provides you crisp quality but also gives you a better edge than those Full HD+ in the segment.
Other display features include a 1,000 Hz touch sampling rate, 2,160 Hz PWM Dimming, 93.5% screen-to-body ratio, aspect ratio of 20.1:9, sRGB support, Display P3, and HDR10+. The overall display quality is extremely impressive given the price, it offers high brightness (1,450 nits) and very good viewing angles.
The screen supports an in-display fingerprint sensor, and you also get a classic OnePlus alert slider on the side which was missing in its predecessor. It comes with dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos on the side for a better multimedia and gaming experience.
Moving to the buttons and ports on the phone, you get USB Type-C at the bottom with a microphone (another at the top with an IR Blaster) and loudspeakers (another at the earpiece). The bottom also has a dual SIM tray with support for 5G connectivity and VoLTE, but no microSD slot. The right side has the power button and the Alert Slider while the volume keys are on the left.
Software, User Interface, & Features
Like the most recent OnePlus smartphones, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G also runs on OxygenOS 13.1 based on the Android 13 operating system, and uses a security patch dated 5th May 2023. OnePlus India has promised 3 years of Android OS upgrades and 4 years of Android security updates for Nord 3 5G. That means, you can expect the Android 14 and 15 update to be aired officially to the Nord 3 5G.
The OxygenOS 13 is OnePlus’ latest customized Android-based operating system that packs loads of features on top of all the native Android 13 perks. OxygenOS is currently one of the best Android interfaces you can get with a host of features and customizations, plus it’s free from bloatware.
The OxygenOS 13.1 on the Nord 3 5G has a bunch of things to offer, from a refreshing UI experience, a re-designed Home Screen, icon packs and customizations, display enhancements, Always-on display customizations with tracking and insights, fingerprint animations, edge lighting, HyperBoost Gaming Engine, RAM Vita, Zen Space, Privacy and Security features, and more.
The user interface is clean, smooth, and lag-free, and the overall UI experience is smooth, thanks to the 120 Hz refresh rate and UI optimizations. You can tweak the UI with the various Oxygen OS customizations and optimizations as per your needs.
You don’t get bloatware or any pre-installed apps on the phone, only the essential ones like GApps, Netflix, Prime Video, and a few OnePlus apps (O Relax, Zen Space, OnePlus Store, IR Remote, and so), the rest of the UI is just so clean. The O Relax provides some nice ambient sounds for relaxation while the Zen Space allows you to isolate yourself from smartphone distractions.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
For the internals, the Nord 3 5G equips the flagship chip from MediaTek, a 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC which is the same SoC that powers the OnePlus Pad. The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC has eight cores clocked up to 3.05 GHz (1x ARM Cortex-X2, 3x Cortex-A710, 4x Cortex-A510 CPU) and Mali-G710 MC10 (10-core) GPU for gaming needs.
The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC (MT6983) is a high-end fast SoC manufactured in a 4nm TSMC process and equips octa-core CPUs clocked up to 3.05 GHz. The CPU setup consists of a 1 + 3 + 4 cores configuration (1x Cortex-X2 + 3x Cortex-A710 + 4x Cortex-A510). The SoC includes one Cortex-X2 high-performance core clocked at 3.05 GHz, three Cortex-A710 performance cores clocked at 2.85 GHz, and four Cortex-A510 power-efficient cores clocked at 1.8 GHz.
Moreover, it also packs up to 16 GB LPDDR5X RAM, and up to 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage. The smartphone comes in two storage variants i.e. the base model with 8 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 128 GB UFS 3.1 storage while the top variant offers as much as 16 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage. It offers extended RAM via its RAM-Vita feature with up to 12 GB RAM making a total of 28 GB RAM (physical + virtual). No microSD card storage expansion is available on the phone.
About the performance of the CPU, it competes with the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, there’s no doubt the Dimensity 9000 packs a punch, it’s a flagship-grade SoC with high-performance cores and fast LPDDR5X + UFS 3.1 RAM-storage combo. According to our benchmark tests, it falls at the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 level, but may be slightly better in performance and likely to compete with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. This is one of the most powerful SoCs from MediaTek and is categorized in the high-end CPU segment.
The ARM Mali-G710 MC10 is a high-end GPU with 10 of the 16 possible cores and offers top-notch GPU performance. You can play almost all the games with the highest possible graphics without any lags. It competes with the Adreno 730 GPU found on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. For cooling, the Nord 3 5G offers a VC cooling system with a 4,129.8 sqmm large vapor chamber for heat dissipation, so no need to worry about longer-duration gaming.
Cameras
According to the camera specs, the Nord 3 5G promises to push the boundaries with its high-end 50 MP IMX890 camera. Let’s take a closer look at what it brings to the table. The Nord 3 5G uses a triple camera setup on the rear side identical to the one seen on its tone-down sibling OnePlus Nord CE3 5G. The camera setup includes a total of three cameras with the main 50 MP camera utilizing the Sony IMX890 image sensor.
Digging more into the cameras, the 50 MP IMX890 primary camera uses a sensor size of 1/1.56 inches, 1.0 µm pixel size, f/1.8 aperture, 24 mm equivalent focal length, 6P lenses, PDAF, and supports both, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization). There’s no telephoto camera, but you get the OIS + EIS which is pretty much helpful in zoomed shots.
The two secondary cameras include an 8 MP ultra-wide-angle with a Sony IMX355 image sensor, 1.12 µm pixel size, f/2.2 aperture, 112° FOV, and a 2 MP macro with f/2.4 aperture, and 4 cm shooting distance. The front side has a 16 MP f/2.4 selfie camera for selfie and video calling needs. It may seem that the cameras are aided by two separate LED flash, but there’s a fake one for design aesthetics, the phone comes with only a single LED flash besides the main camera.
Camera features include AI Scene Enhancement, AI Highlight Video, Movie Mode, Ultra Steady Mode, Dual-view Video, HDR, Nightscape, Portrait Mode, Video Portrait, Pano, Macro, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Text-scanner, Retouching, and Filters. The selfie camera offers Face Unlock, Screen Flash, HDR, Nightscape, Portrait mode, Pano, Steady mode, Time-lapse, Retouching, and Filters.
There’s no doubt that the 50MP IMX890 captures stunning and crip details with very good colors and contrasts, it even captures impressive low-light shots. The OIS + EIS aids in eliminating blurry and grainy images in addition to its TurboRAW, a proprietary HDR algorithm that delivers an ideal DSLR-like wide dynamic range, balancing image foreground and background.
About the quality of the rest of the cameras i.e. the ultra-wide with 112° FOV (Field Of View) is great and you also get to record amazing wide-angle videos, selfies turn out to be really well, while the macro camera performance is okay. You will likely capture a better shot from the main camera in zoom mode rather than using the macro mode, as you can see in the samples we shared. It’s not that the camera is poor, many smartphones tend to offer an additional macro camera which doesn’t deliver as good results as the main camera. We would suggest sticking to the primary camera for capturing macros in zoomed mode if you don’t find the macro lens good enough.
The 50 MP primary camera offers from 0.6x to 20x zoom (rear), supports up to 4K recording at 60 fps (rear), and up to 1080 recording at 30 fps (front). The slow motion recording seems okay, it offers 1080p slow motion video recording at 120 fps and 720p at 240 fps. You don’t get to see the super 480 fps or 960 fps slow motion in either of the video modes. Take a look at the camera samples we took from the OnePlus Nord 3 5G.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
On the battery side, the Nord 3 5G packs a 5,000 mAh dual-cell battery (2x 2,500 mAh) which supports 80W SuperVOOC fast charging. Compared to its predecessor, the battery capacity is upgraded from 4,500 mAh to 5,000 mAh, as well as, the charging speed that has been increased to a high-rated 80W SuperVOOC Charge. With a 5,000 mAh battery, you can expect a battery life of a day and a half on moderate use and up to 2 days if your usage is below normal.
The dual cell helps in achieving faster charging speeds, the two batteries are charged parallelly which cuts down the charging time in half. The 80W charger takes about 15 minutes to charge up to 60% and retains 80% battery health after 1,600 charge and discharge cycles as per the company. You get an 80W SuperVOOC Charge Type-A charger in the box which has a rating of 11V, 7.3A.
Verdict – OnePlus Nord 3 5G Review
The OnePlus Nord 3 5G is an all-rounded performer, whether you are in photography (50 MP IMX890 + 4K@60fps), have a desire for high-end smooth performance (Dimensity 9000 SoC + 16 GB RAM), or want an impressive multimedia experience (10-bit 120 Hz AMOLED + Dolby stereo speakers). In addition to these, the 80W SuperVOOC Charge fast charging which takes about 15 minutes to charge 60%, plenty of OxygenOS 13 perks, an Alert Slider, an IR Blaster, and more – all add to the overall features of the smartphone.
With its highly premium super sleek design, stunning bezel-less display, and flagship-grade specs, and impressive camera, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G sets a new standard in the segment and hits the sweet spot. We can say the Nord 3 5G is a great addition to the OnePlus family and offers a compressive set of features at a competitive price point, the Nord 3 5G is definitely worth considering, especially for performance users. The OnePlus Nord 3 5G is certainly our recommendation for users with a budget of ₹35K range. The price starts at ₹33,999 which you can grab with some ongoing discounts listed below.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Price in India – Where To Buy?
The price for the OnePlus Nord 3 5G starts at ₹33,999 for its 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant and ₹37,999 for its 16 GB RAM and 256 GB storage variant. The smartphone is available on Amazon India, OnePlus India’s official website, OnePlus Experience Stores, and authorized retail stores.
Current offers include an instant discount of ₹1,250 on HDFC bank credit cards and One Card (Flipkart), ₹500 instant discount on One Card (OnePlus.in & Amazon.in), no-cost EMI for up to 6 months, up to ₹2,160.04 no-cost EMI interest savings on HDFC Bank Credit Cards (Amazon.in). An additional 1-year warranty plan at just ₹99, an additional ₹1,000 discount on Redcoins, and earn 2X Redcoins on purchase. Free Nord Buds on purchase of OnePlus Nord 3 5G from 15 July till stock lasts.
The Jio offers include benefits for JioPlus (Postpaid) users on the ₹399 plan, special benefits up to ₹4,500 i.e. additional 100 GB data (additional 10 GB data per month for 10 months) worth ₹1,000, and additional coupons worth ₹3,500 from Swiggy, Ajio, Ferns, and Petals, Ixigo, Abhibus, and ET Prime. The Jio offer is valid from 15th July 2023.
