The OnePlus Z is one of the most anticipated Android phones of 2020, and that’s because the company is reportedly returning to its value-priced roots after launching the more premium OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro.
How cheap will the OnePlus Z (aka OnePlus Nord) be? A new tweet by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has set off speculation that the OnePlus Z could be as cheap as $299, which would undercut the Pixel 4a and the iPhone SE 2020. But lets look at the substance of the tweet before we get too ahead of ourselves.
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The tweet from Carl Pei merely says that “It’s been a while” and embeds a link to the original OnePlus One, which launched in 2014. As Android Central reminds us, the OnePlus One started at $299 for the 16GB model.
It's been a while... https://t.co/O61EoIa3GcJune 19, 2020
Is Pei just waxing nostalgic? Probably not. There's a reason he's tweeting about that older phone now. It likely means that OnePlus is getting closer to launching a OnePlus Z phone, and it’s release date could be imminent. But the co-founder does not specifically mention price.
But if the OnePlus Z is as cheap as $299, it would be $50 less than the rumored $349 price of the Google Pixel 4a — which is apparently delayed. And it would also undercut the iPhone SE by $100.
In terms of what you should expect for your money, the OnePlus Z/OnePlus Nord will reportedly feature a 6.4-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and possibly a Snapdragon 768G processor, which would also enable 5G connectivity. But we find it very hard to believe that OnePlus could offer a 5G phone for under $300.
Leakers seem to be divided around how many cameras the OnePlus Z could have, with one report saying it could be three lenses and another as many as four. Again, the latter scenario would not be happening if the OnePluz Z were that cheap.
We’ll have to wait and see just how affordable the OnePlus Z winds up being. So for now, color us intrigued but not convinced by this tease.