OnePlus Nord For The US Might Come In A Different Form

OnePlus's latest smartphone may have just eclipsed the high-end premium OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. That despite its obviously mid-range specs and slightly worrying durability. The OnePlus Nord just seems to have the perfect combination of features and price for these uncertain times. Unfortunately, the Nord's launch details have left out US availability. The good news is that it will indeed be coming to the US. The bad news is that it won't be this OnePlus Nord.

It's not that easy to delineate smartphone tiers these days given how specs seem to cross the divide here and there. The OnePlus Nord's Snapdragon 765G, though, marks it for something other than the high-end where a Snapdragon 800 series would be required. In practice, however, we've found that the Nord does just as well and for half the price as premium phones.

Naturally, that has gotten US consumers wondering if they will ever get a chance to buy this phone instead of OnePlus' more expensive 8 series. Speaking to WIRED, co-founder Carl Pei reveals that a more affordable phone will indeed arrive in this market, just not this particular OnePlus Nord.

It turns out that "Nord" is intended to be a brand and this particular incarnation is just the first. That, unfortunately, still leaves open the question of "when", now compounded by the question of "what".

A US-bound OnePlus Nord should pretty much have almost the same features and affordability as the international model, of course. There are, however, some hints that another OnePlus Nord is in the works that has a 5G-capable Snapdragon 690 instead. If that will be what lands in the US, OnePlus better have a good explanation why it's downgrading the chip or, better yet, a better price tag than the current OnePlus Nord.