The Nord CE 3 Lite Could Be Coming To The US After All

Earlier this week, OnePlus took the covers off its newest mid-range smartphone — the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. Launched as a successor to last year's Nord CE 2 Lite, the device features marginal updates over its predecessor, including a larger display, a higher resolution primary camera, and faster charging speeds. At launch, OnePlus confirmed that the device would only be available in a handful of international markets, including India, the UAE, several South East Asia, and some European countries.

Given the long history of the OnePlus Nord CE lineup never making it to the U.S. market, most people did not expect this phone to land in the United States. However, if we are to believe a member of the OnePlus Community Forums, OnePlus has plans to bring this phone to the U.S. — albeit with a tiny catch. A key takeaway from the forum post was the possibility that the U.S. edition of the Nord CE 3 Lite will drop the CE branding and will likely be called the OnePlus Nord N30.

The OnePlus Community member scoured through the software builds of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite and encountered several instances of the name "OnePlus Nord N30 5G" appearing within the code. They also came across the FCC ID for the device, which is another compelling piece of evidence about the Nord CE 3 Lite likely making it to the U.S. as the Nord N30.

Given that the Nord N30 will be a rebranded version of the Nord CE 3 Lite, we expect the hardware specs of both devices to be nearly identical. However, given that OnePlus has a long history of making localized customizations to several of its products, there is still a chance that the Nord N30 will have at least a couple of differentiating features from the Nord CE 3 Lite.

Like its cousin, the Nord N30 5G is expected to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 695 5G SoC and will most likely ship with 8 GB of RAM. While the Asian variants of the phone come in 128 GB and 256 GB storage options, the European variant only offers consumers 128 GB storage. It is unclear at this time whether the Nord N30 will be offered in both the storage trims when it finally launches stateside.

The OnePlus Nord N30 will almost certainly get the same battery capacity (5,000 mAh) as the Nord CE 3 Lite and will also support 67 W fast charging. The camera setup is also likely to remain unchanged, with the device featuring the same 108 MP primary camera and twin 2 MP depth and macro sensors. The forum post has also indicated the likelihood of the device being sold via T-Mobile. While the forum's post doesn't mention anything about a possible launch date for the device, there is a good chance that it will make it to the U.S. soon with a possible sub-$400 price tag.