OnePlus launched its most expected OnePlus Nord 5 smartphone in India today. This goes back to the traditional design after a change to full metal body in the Nord 4. There is a bigger 144Hz screen, faster Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC, a huge 6800mAh battery and cameras. Is this worth the price? Let us dive into the review and find out.
Box Contents
- OnePlus Nord 5 12GB + 256GB in Marble Sands colour
- 80W SUPERVOOC charger
- USB Type-C Cable
- Protective case
- SIM ejector
- Quick Start Guide and Warranty Information
Display, Hardware and Design
The OnePlus Nord 5 sports a 6.83-inch (2772×1240 pixels) 1.5K AMOLED display with 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, 3000Hz instant touch response and 450 PPI. The display is bright since it has up to 1800 nits peak brightness. It offers good colour output since it has 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, and the sunlight legibility is good as well. You can select from vivid, Natural and Pro screen colour modes. Nature tone display adjusts the display based on the ambient lighting conditions.
The phone has a 3,840Hz high-frequency dimming technology. In dark environments where DC dimming can’t work, the phone will automatically switch to PWM dimming mode to maintain accurate colors on display with a more comfortable eye experience. There is Aqua Touch Aqua that uses HyperTouch algorithm for even smoother touch experience even when the hands are wet. It has Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection.
The phone also has HDR 10 support, which works for YouTube and Netflix. There is always-on-display that shows contextual info and notifications all day or as per schedule.
The phone has a tiny punch-hole that houses a new 50-megapixel aufocous camera. Above the display, there is an earpiece on the top edge that doubles up as a secondary speaker. It has an in-display optical fingerprint scanner.
Coming to the button placements and ports, the power button is present on the right side along with the volume rockers. The alert slider has been replaced by the new, customizable Plus Key.
The Dual SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C 2.0 port and the loudspeaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone is on the top, along with a speaker vent and the IR blaster.
The Marble Sands colour that we have inspired by sunlit beaches and has platinum white shimmers subtly with every shine of light, capturing the beauty of natural movement, said the company.
It also comes in Dry Ice colour with blue reminiscent of glacial refections on ocean surfaces, cool, calm, and refreshingly pure. The Phantom Grey has a matte black finish infused with depth and confidence, said OnePlus.
The phone has IP65 ratings for dust and splash resistance. The phone weighs 211g, which is heavier than the Nord 4, but considering the huge 6800mAh battery, this is fine.
Camera
- 50MP rear main camera with 1/1.56″ Sony LYT-700 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, OIS
- 8MP 120° ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture, 3.5cm macro
- 50MP auto focus front-facing camera with 1/2.75″ Samsung JN1 sensor, f/2.0 aperture
The camera UI in the OxygenOS 15 is familiar. There is Pro mode, Panorama, Macro, Slo-mo, Time-Lapse, Dual-View video, tilt-shift and more. The rear camera offers 12.5MP output after pixel binning, and the front camera images are 50MP in size. This uses the same HDR algorithm as the OnePlus 13 series.
Daylight shots came out well, thanks to the large 50MP sensor, and the dynamic range is better with auto HDR. Zoom is good even in 4x mode, but the quality reduces when you zoom further. The portrait shots are good as well. The night mode is useful, but it takes a few seconds to process. There is also a tripod mode. The 8MP ultra-wide camera is decent, there is also 3.5cm macro option from ultra-wide, but the quality is much better with main camera closeup shots, even though you can’t go too close with it.
The 50MP autofocus front camera does a brilliant job preserving a lot of details. Edge detection is good as well in portrait shots from the front camera. Overall, the camera is a huge improvement from the Nord 4.
Check out the camera samples.
It can record videos in up to 4K in 60fps from the front and rear cameras. There is slow motion 1080p at 120fps, but Portrait video mode video with the main camera and d ultra-steady mode are limited to 1080p at 30 fps. There is OIS and EIS which does decent job.
Software, UI and Apps
The OnePlus Nord 5 runs Android 15 based OxygenOS 15 out of the box. It has Android security patch for June 2025. The phone will get 4 Android updates and 6 years of security updates, similar to the predecessor. OxygenOS 15 offers redesigned icons, new design elements, Parallel Processing, reduction in system storage, AI features such as AI Detail Boost, AI Unblur and AI Reflection Eraser.
The Intelligent Search is an AI-powered feature that leverages natural language processing, allowing you to search across apps like Settings, Files, and Notes using simple, everyday language. There is open canvas that lets you use 3 apps on a single screen.
There is circle to search. You also get OxygenOS 15 bring AI Notes feature that automatically organizes notes, highlights key points, and enhances readability. It can expand or reduce content, adjust formality, and even correct grammar errors.
Apart from the usual set of OnePlus apps and Google apps, it comes with several pre-loaded with Netflix, Facebook, PhonePe, and LinkedIn, which can be uninstalled, but come back once the phone is reset. The IR remote app is useful.
Out of 12GB LPDDR5X RAM, you get 11.03 of usable RAM, and about 5GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It also has DRE or dynamic RAM expansion feature, which uses the built-in storage as RAM. This has up to 12GB of additional RAM expansion. Out of 256GB UFS 3.1 storage, you get about 219.77GB of free storage. At least the 256GB version of the Nord 4 had UFS 4.0 storage, so this is a downgrade.
Plus Key and AI Plus Mind
The new Plus Key that was first introduced with the OnePlus 13s lets you switch between ring, vibrate, and silent modes. Additionally, customization allows for quick access to features like the camera, translation, or flashlight. You can also set it to launch AI Plus Mind, which saves your content so that you can access them later.
It lets users save and organize important on-screen information — such as events, bookings, or listings — into a dedicated Mind Space, helping avoid information overload.
Beyond simple saving, AI Plus Mind uses artificial intelligence to understand the context of saved content. For example, it can pull event details from an image or message and add them directly to the user’s calendar. Using AI Search, users will be able to locate saved content through natural language questions.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
It has an in-display fingerprint sensor that unlocks the phone quickly, and it has an optical fingerprint scanner. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. You can also use the fingerprint for app local and payments in apps.
Furthermore, you can change the fingerprint animation and also disable it, and also enable quick launch option to launch apps directly from the lock screen by holding the fingerprint. The phone also has face unlock feature.
Music and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default Music Player. It doesn’t have Dolby Atmos, but has OReality Audio with customizable Smart, Movie, Game and Music modes. It doesn’t have FM Radio support. Audio through the stereo speakers is good without any distortion even in full volume. Audio through earphones is good as well.
This has Widevine L1, so that you can play HD content on Netflix and other streaming apps. It supports HDR content on YouTube, and Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
The OnePlus Nord 5 has support for n1/n3/n5/n8/n28/n38/n40/n41/n66/n77/n78 Network Bands in India. It has 5.5G, which is 5GA and 5G VONR for Jio. There is also 4G Wi-Fi, VoLTE and Carrier Aggregation. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, Navic, GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo, QZSS. It has OTG support, and NFC support.
The phone has redesigned antenna architecture with three additional high performance antennas dedicated to 5G and Wi-Fi connectivity, said the company. Moving on, the call quality is good, and we did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud. The Clear Voice feature automatically blocks background noise in calling apps. It has stock dialer with call recording, AI call assistant and AI translation in 29 languages.
The OnePlus Nord 5’s body SAR is 0.895W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.182/Kg, which is well under the limit of 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) in India.
Performance and Benchmarks
The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC, which is a minor upgrade compared to 7+ Gen 3 in the Nord 4. It uses the same microarchitecture as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but the CPU cores are underclocked and this uses a different GPU.
It uses 1 x Kryo Prime CPU (Arm Cortex-X4 based) at up to 3GHz, 4 x Kryo Performance CPUs (Arm Cortex-A720 based) at up to 2.8GHz and 3x Kryo Efficiency CPUs (Arm Cortex-A520 based) at up to 2GHz.
The SoC is fabricated using the TSMC 4nm Process Technology, same as Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The phone has 7,300 mm² VC cooling system and the total heat dissipation area is 32207 mm².
The Adreno 735 GPU has Real-time Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing, but it doesn’t have support for Unreal Engine 5 Lumen Global Illumination and Reflections System present in the 8 Gen 3 since there is change in the GPU which offers similar performance as the Adreno GPU present in the 8 Gen 2.
We did not face any issues or frame drops in the graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact. It supports 144 fps gaming in COD Mobile natively, and in BGMI, and Free Fire when you enable Adaptive Frame Booster. In BGMI Ultra HDR + Ultra works.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 83.1% which is good, and is way better than the Nord 4. The temperature shot up from 33 to 46 degrees, which is decent. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
As you can see, the CPU performance is not much different from the Nord 4, but the GPU performance is better.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 6800mAh (typical) graphite battery, which can easily last for a day even with heavy use. I got over 7 hours of screen on time with over 2 days of use, mostly on Wi-Fi, and occasional 5G use with Smart refresh rate. This is way better than the OnePlus Nord 4.
Since the phone has support for 80W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about 20 minutes and up to 100% in less than an hour. You will have to enable fast charging option if you want to reduce the charging time, but the phone gets a bit hot.
The phone also comes with Bypass Charging, which directly powers the phone instead of the battery, reducing heating and allowing for extended gaming sessions without the need to worry about the battery or overheating. The phone doesn’t have wireless charging support.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 31,999, the OnePlus Nord 5 is an all-rounder for the price, and stands out from the rest when it comes with performance combined with the camera quality and battery. As usual, the Indian model gets an improved 50MP front camera, which is an excellent move from OnePlus. At the end of the day, if you are fine with the lack of metal frame, this is worth the price.
Alternatives
The latest POCO F7 offers better performance, bigger battery, and has better build if you can compromise on the camera. The iQOO Neo 10 at a slightly higher price is also a good option.
Pricing and availability
The OnePlus Nord 5 is priced at Rs. 31,999 for the 8GB + 256GB model, the 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 34,999 and the top-end 12GB + 512GB model is priced at Rs. 37,999. With launch offers, the effective starting price is Rs. 29,999.
It will be available from Amazon.in, OnePlus.in, OnePlus Store App, as well as mainline stores such as OnePlus Experience Stores, and partner stores starting from 9th July 2025, 12 PM onwards.
Pros
- 144Hz 1.5K AMOLED display is brilliant
- Good build, IP65 ratings
- Smooth performance
- Good main camera, excellent front camera
- Excellent battery life, fast charging
Cons
- Average ultra-wide camera
- Bloatware