OnePlus Nord CE 5G has officially launched in India as an upper-mid-range phone. The ‘CE’ in the name means Core Edition which is essentially the original OnePlus Nord toned down to its basics. That being said, the Nord CE does feature an upgraded primary camera, is slimmer and has a larger battery to boot.
At its asking price, the OnePlus Nord CE goes up against the likes of the Mi 10i, Realme X7 series and more. Here, we are comparing the Nord CE with the Poco X3 Pro which is another strong contender with a Snapdragon 8-series processor and a large battery that powers through the day and then some.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G is priced starting at Rs 22,999 for the base variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage followed by the 8GB+128GB storage variant priced at Rs 24,999. The maxed-out Nord CE with 12GB+256GB storage is up for grabs at Rs 27,999.
As for the Poco X3 Pro, it starts at Rs 18,999 for the 6GB+128GB variant and Rs 20,999 for the 8GB+128GB storage option.
The OnePlus Nord CE and Poco X3 Pro both have a plastic build with the former measuring 7.9 millimetres in thickness and weighing in at 170 grams. The Poco X3 Pro measures 9.4 millimetres in thickness and weighs 215 grams. The Nord CE is clearly a thin and light phone than the Poco X3 Pro. OnePlus offers the Nord CE in three colours: Silver Ray, Blue Void and Charcoal Ink while the Poco X3 Pro is available in Golden Bronze, Graphite Black and Steel Blue colours to choose from.
OnePlus Nord CE has a triple camera setup on the back housed in a vertical camera module tucked away in the top-left corner while the Poco X3 Pro has a circular camera module that houses four cameras and takes the top-centre stage. Unlike the Nord CE, the Poco X3 Pro has received an official IP53 rating which protects it from usual splashes of water and dust ingress.
The Nord CE features a 6.43-inch Full HD+ (2400×1080 pixels) resolution display that uses an AMOLED panel. The screen supports upto a 90Hz refresh rate and has a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera. It is also certified for HDR10 playback but does not officially come with a Gorilla Glass protection of any kind. The screen is also home to an in-display fingerprint sensor.
Meanwhile, the Poco X3 Pro features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ resolution display that has a punch-hole cutout in the top centre. The display on the Poco X3 Pro offers upto a 120Hz refresh rate with HDR10 certification. The screen is further topped with a layer of Gorilla Glass 6 for added protection.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor with an octa-core CPU that has two performance cores running at 2.2GHz and six power-efficient cores running at 1.8GHz. This is backed by Adreno 619 GPU with upto 12GB LPDDR4X RAM and upto 256GB UFS 2.1 storage options to choose from. It runs on OxygenOS 11 which is based on Android 11 out-of-the-box.
Meanwhile, the Poco X3 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 processor which does not bring 5G connectivity but has an octa-core CPU with Adreno 640 GPU. The CPU consists of a prime core running at 2.96GHz, three performance cores running at 2.42GHz and four power-efficient cores running at 1.78GHz. This is paired with upto 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB UFS 3.1 storage. There is an option to expand the storage further by adding a microSD card of upto 1TB. It runs on MIUI 12 for Poco which is based on Android 11.
The OnePlus Nord CE has a linear speaker and brings back the 3.5mm headphone jack. The Poco X3 Pro has stereo speakers and is certified for Hi-Res playback. The Nord CE offers Bluetooth 5.1 with aptX HD while the Poco X3 Pro has Bluetooth 5.0. The Poco X3 Pro has an IR blaster and its power button doubles up as a fingerprint reader.
The OnePlus Nord CE has triple cameras on the back headlined by a 64MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 119-degree field-of-view and a 2MP depth sensor. The rear cameras can record in 4K UHD at 30FPS, 1080p at upto 120FPS with EIS and there is a 16MP selfie camera on the front.
As for the Poco X3 Pro, it has a 48MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 119-degree field-of-view, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there is a 20MP selfie camera housed within the punch-hole notch cutout. The rear camera can record in 4K UHD at 30FPS and 1080p at upto 240FPS with support for EIS.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G is equipped with a 4,500mAh battery that supports Warp Charge 30T Plus 30W fast charging. OnePlus claims that the phone can go from 0-70 per cent in 30 minutes.
The Poco X3 Pro has a larger 5,160mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging that can fully charge the phone from 0-100% in 59 minutes.