OnePlus will raise the bar for budget phones with 5G and a 90Hz display for under $250 in the US, OnePlus revealed exclusively to PCMag this week.
“From the premium and ultra-premium OnePlus 9 series to the OnePlus Nord N200 5G—our newest and most affordable 5G device ever—we’re providing more choices and easier access to 5G for our users,” OnePlus CEO Pete Lau said in an email interview.
Last year’s OnePlus Nord N10 5G took the US prepaid market by storm. Reports from Wave7 Research said that the N10 and its cheaper 4G sibling, the Nord N100, lifted OnePlus’s market share to over 15% at Metro by T-Mobile.
Now OnePlus is returning with a phone that brings more of the N10’s features closer to the N200’s price point. While the N100 had a 90Hz display, it was only 720p, and the phone was a 4G device. The N200 5G will have a 6.49-inch, 1080p LCD display, the company said, upgrading the screen to the N10’s level.
An image provided exclusively to PCMag by OnePlus also shows three rear cameras, a hole-punch front-facing camera, and what appears to be a side-mounted combination fingerprint scanner and power button.
The company initially announced the N200 last week, and as usual, it’s trickling out specs to get people’s attention. The device doesn’t have an official launch date yet.
“OnePlus is committed to making the 5G experience more accessible than ever, and the OnePlus Nord N200 5G is a testament to that commitment. We believe that the N200 5G will allow more users to enjoy the fast and smooth OnePlus 5G experience,” the company said in an official blog post.
Over the past year, low-cost 5G competition has gotten more intense. T-Mobile is giving away Samsung Galaxy A32 phones to upgraders, and Verizon is trying to lure people onto premium unlimited plans with huge phone discounts. The Galaxy A32 tends to cost about the same as OnePlus is suggesting for the Nord N200 5G. But the A32 only has a 720p, 60Hz screen.
OnePlus How Many?
Last year marked a big change for OnePlus. With the departure of co-founder Carl Pei for his new startup Nothing, CEO Pete Lau put the company on a track to produce a broader product line—not just flagship and near-flagship phones, but an array of more affordable models as well.
While the N200 is a big step up, the “10” and “200” models remain in different lanes, Lau said. Presumably, that implies an N20 is coming as well, but OnePlus wasn’t ready to talk about that.
“Last year, we announced our strategy of expanding our product portfolio to make the OnePlus experience more accessible to users worldwide. The OnePlus Nord N200 5G and OnePlus Nord N10 5G are in different positions in our product portfolio. The OnePlus Nord N200 5G is fully upgraded from OnePlus Nord N100 with excellent performance and a solid 5G experience,” Lau said.
COVID hasn’t put a kink in the company’s product lineup, Lau said, although it sent OnePlus staff home for a while.
“It’s been a difficult time for many people around the world. Throughout this time, we have closely monitored the COVID-situation and continue offering our support to our friends and colleagues in areas that are still impacted. Although the impacts haven’t fully faded away, we’re fortunate that our product roadmap has remained on track,” Lau said.
Staying True to 5G
5G in the US has become a bit of a check-box. While carriers are pushing consumers to upgrade to 5G with free phone promotions, they haven’t made it clear how 5G will change their lives in the short term.
Lau has been a long-term believer in 5G and has explained how he thinks it’ll change how we use our phones in the past, although this week he was a bit more circumspect.
“5G will fundamentally reshape the future of telecommunications and has been an important focus of OnePlus’ R&D efforts,” he said. “The increased internet speed will certainly influence the way people utilize their devices and apps.”
He’s given more details in previous interviews. At Mobile World Congress Shanghai in 2018, he talked about how 5G could make local storage less important, and how smart assistants could become much more powerful with 5G. We’ll hear more about the Nord N200 soon, we’re sure.
