OnePlus has announced its latest budget-focused smartphone, the Nord CE 3 Lite. The Nord CE 3 Lite is set to come with a meaty battery, a 108MP camera, a 120Hz display, and more while costing just £299.
To start off, the Nord CE 3 Lite boasts a Snapdragon 695 5G chipset that OnePlus promises has “a robust GPU and increased power efficiency” alongside dual 5G mode network support and Wi-Fi 5 for improved network connectivity, though it is worth noting that this was a chipset first revealed in late 2021 and found on plenty of 2022 smartphones.
That’s paired with a fairly generous 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM (expandable by an additional 8GB using spare ROM) that should keep things snappy, and you’ve got either 128GB or 256GB of storage to choose from.
Elsewhere, Nord CE 3 Lite comes with a 6.72-inch 120Hz LCD display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 and 680 nits of peak brightness. This smartphone also comes with a meaty 5,000mAh battery with some of the fastest charging around at the budget end of the market at 67W. With those speeds, it can regain 80% of charge in just 30 minutes, according to OnePlus, with a full charge in 41 minutes.
As far as the camera of the Nord CE 3 Lite goes, you’re getting a chunky 108MP back camera system with 9-in-1 pixel binning, electronic image stabilization, 3x lossless zoom, and a slew of features like AI scene enhancement, slow motion video, dual view video, HDR support, portrait mode, panorama shooting, retouching, and a variety of filters. However, the accompanying 2MP macro and 2MP depth lenses aren’t quite as exciting.
On top of all of the above, other notable features coming to the Nord CE 3 Lite include the aforementioned ability to convert 8GB of hard drive space into virtual RAM, OxygenOS 13.1 that promises gaming optimizations reducing system lag and screen tearing, a microSD card slot, a unique 200% volume mode for the phone’s dual stereo speakers (a first for OnePlus phones) and that ever-handy 3.5mm headphone jack.
When it comes to finishes, the Nord CE 3 Lite comes in a vibrant Pastel Lime colourway, along with a more muted Chromatic Gray for those not quite into bold finishes. It’s up for pre-order today at OnePlus starting at £299, with release set for 20 April.
