After many months of speculation, OnePlus has announced the new mid-range OnePlus Nord N10 5G and the budget Nord N100. The U.S. was left out of the launch of the original Nord, but that's not happening this time round. Both phones will launch in the U.K. first, but they'll arrive in the U.S. soon after.
While the Nord N10 5G is designed to compete with the likes of the Pixel 4a and iPhone SE, the N100 is way further down the price spectrum. This is OnePlus's take on the Moto G series, so don't expect flagship-level premium specs this time round.
Of course, there is a price tag to match the scaled-back specs, so it's not all bad news. Here's everything we know about the OnePlus Nord N100.
OnePlus Nord N100: latest news (Updated October 26)
- OnePlus has announced the budget OnePlus Nord N100 alongside the N10 5G. The new phone will be out in the UK in November.
OnePlus Nord N100 price and release date
So far OnePlus has only revealed release information for the N100's UK release, promising that it will arrive on November 10 for the low price of £179 (around $233 based on conversion rates). The phone will be coming to the US at some point in the near future, though OnePlus hasn't told us exactly when, or how much the phone will be.
Hopefully the OnePlus Nord N100 will arrive before the holidays, and because UK prices include tax it'll be slightly less than the converted price suggests.
OnePlus Nord N100 specs
Price: £179
Screen size: 6.52 inches
CPU: Snapdragon 460
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB
Expandable: Yes
Rear cameras: 13MP main, bokeh, macro
Battery size: 5,300 mAh
A phone this cheap isn't going to come with flagship-tier specs, or even the mid-range specs you'll find in the OnePlus Nord or Nord N10 5G.
Inside, the OnePlus Nord N100 features a Snapdragon 460 processor with 4GB of RAM. That's nowhere near as powerful as the Snapdragon 865 in the OnePlus 8T, but the N100 is a third of the price of that newly released phone. It's not designed for people who want the best of everything, naturally.
Also in there is 64GB of storage, and like the Nord N10 you can expand this through a microSD card slot — something OnePlus has never included on a phone before now.
OnePlus Nord N100 design, display, and camera
The one thing OnePlus hasn't changed up is the design. The N100 comes with a similar design to the 8T, and packs in a 6.52-inch display and a triple-lens camera system.
Screen resolution hasn't been announced just yet, and there's no official word on refresh rate. With OnePlus trumpeting the 90Hz refresh rate on the N10 5G, though, It's safe to assume the N100 will offer a standard 60Hz refresh rate on a phone. As for resolution, we'd guess something in the neighborhood of HD/720p.
The camera array packs in a 13MP main lens, plus a bokeh and macro lens for a "more dynamic shooting experience". There's also a single hole-punch camera on the front of the phone, with an unspecified resolution.
Finally OnePlus seems to have ditched the in-display fingerprint scanner, in favor of a physical fingerprint scanner on the back of the OnePlus N100.
The N100 is available in a single color, dubbed Midnight Frost. That's dark gray, when translated into English.
OnePlus Nord N100 battery and charging
The OnePlus N100 comes with a rather impressive 5,000 mAh battery, which is larger than any OnePlus flagship has offered. Couple that with 18W fast charging, and you have quite a substantial offering on such a cheap device.
OnePlus Nord N100 connectivity
The Snapdragon 460 doesn't include a 5G modem the way the Snapdragon 690 in the N10 5G does. And OnePlus hasn't said anything to make us suspect there's a workaround. So expect LTE connectivity for the Nord N100.
OnePlus Nord N100 software
While the OnePlus 8T comes with Oxygen OS 11, itself based on Android 11, the Nord N100 comes with Oxygen OS 10.5, which uses an older version of Android. It's not clear why, but Oxygen 10.5 is a perfectly solid operating system, and comes with all the same features you'd find on other devices running it.
That includes Zen Mode, Dark Mode, and customization options that let you tweak the design of pretty much everything on your phone.
OnePlus Nord N100 outlook
There's a lot missing in the OnePlus N100 announcement, and things we still don't know about this budget phone. What we have heard about the OnePlus N100 is fairly typical of phones at this price: plenty of specs have been sacrificed in favor of offering a cheaper handset.
But there's still has a lot to love about the OnePlus N100. Whether it's the giant battery, the cleanly optimized Oxygen OS, or the fact OnePlus has finally given in and included expandable storage, it's the ideal entry point into the OnePlus ecosystem for people who don't have $750 to spend on a premium device.
