OnePlus Confirms Specs Of The Upcoming Nord CE 3 Lite

OnePlus is set to launch its next Nord-branded smartphone on April 4th, 2023. In classical OnePlus fashion, the company has already revealed how the smartphone looks and shared much of its specifications through official channels and partnerships with online retailers such as Amazon. In addition, the company's president and COO, Kinder Liu, has given away all vital details about the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite.

In an interview with TechRadar, Liu revealed crucial specifications of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. Like its predecessor, the Nord CE 3 Lite is strictly a lower mid-range 5G smartphone with specs that make it a viable choice for anyone who wants the clean and bloat-free OxygenOS interface without spending more on the company's flagship smartphone — the OnePlus 11, which launched in February 2023.

The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite brings significant upgrades over its predecessor — which has an equally clunky and confusing name. The OnePlus executive confirms the upcoming phone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chipset, first announced in October 2021. It will be mated to 8GB of RAM with another 8GB of virtual RAM (virtual RAM allows Android devices to free up RAM by offloading low-priority tasks to the storage).

Notably, Qualcomm followed up the Snapdragon 695 with up to 40% more powerful Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 mobile platform in September 2022. But, OnePlus's choice of processor appears to favor economics over supreme performance.

The Nord CE 3 Lite has a 6.72-inch Full HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, larger than the 6.59-inch display on the Nord CE 2 Lite. Liu does not divulge information about the technology behind the display, but it would be unusual for the company to offer an AMOLED at this price. The company's microsite for the Nord CE 3 Lite's launch also reveals the display has a centrally-aligned hole-punch camera for selfies. The image also confirms a side-mounted fingerprint scanner instead of one embedded within the display. 

The images reveal a triple rear camera setup, and Liu confirms that the Nord CE 3 Lite will be the first OnePlus phone with a primary camera resolution of 108MP. While Liu does not talk about the other two cameras, a week-old leak on Twitter from tipster SnoopyTech suggests the phone will feature a 2MP depth sensor, a 2MP macro camera, and a 16MP front camera for selfies.

In addition, the executive confirmed the smartphone runs OnePlus's latest version of Android skin — OxygenOS 13.1, which is based on Android 13. SnoopyTech also mentions the phone can be expected to receive two generations of Android updates and three years of security updates.

Besides these details shared by Liu, OnePlus has already confirmed the Nord CE 3 Lite will sport a 5,000mAh battery, which is the same as the previous generation. The charging speed, however, has been bumped up to 67W from 33W on the Nord CE 2 Lite. Besides this, OnePlus has confirmed two color options — Pastel Lime and Chromatic Gray — for the smartphone.

Liu leaves the pricing for the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite for the event on April 4th. However, the tipster mentioned above says the phone will be priced at 329 euros (approximately $360) for the 8GB/128GB configuration. This pricing is a slight increment from the 275 euros (for 8GB/128GB) of the previous generation but is justified by the improvements in almost every aspect.

Lastly, we expect the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite to be available in the U.K., Europe, and Asia. Considering the previous CE models haven't launched in the U.S., we would be surprised if this one did. While you may be able to buy it from a third-party seller on eBay or Amazon, the smartphone may end up not supporting popular carriers in the U.S.