OnePlus Nord 3 review

Introduction

The OnePlus Nord 3 is finally here! It's been over two years since Nord 2 hit the shelves and it seems the wait was worth it. The third Nord brings a flagship-grade Fluid AMOLED, the top-of-the-line Dimensity 9000 5G chip, and an improved primary camera with a high-end Sony IMX890 sensor.

Okay, we are not pretending the Nord 2T did not exist, but it was such an insignificant update that offered faster 80W Super VOOC charging and, well, nothing else. This charging solution has made it to the Nord 3, luckily.

Let's start from the beginning. The OnePlus Nord 3 gets to keep the signature dual-glass design with dual-circle camera arrangement, but it has been tweaked a bit. There is no jutting out rectangular camera housing, which makes the design cleaner, and the phone is now officially IP54-rated for dust and splash resistance.

The Fluid AMOLED is now bigger, faster, and more colorful - it's a 6.74-inch panel with dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit color depth, up to 1000Hz touch response, and HDR10+ support with Netflix and Prime support out of the box.

Moving on to the chipset - it is the flagship-grade Dimensity 9000 5G, a massive update over the Dimensity 1200/1300 in the previous generation with a high-end processor and graphics worthy of a flagship killer. Yes, we couldn't help but mention the iconic words.

The triple camera on the back looks identical to the one on the Nord 2 at first - a 50MP OIS primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro cameras. But the main camera now relies on a high-end Sony IMX890 sensor (found on OnePlus 11, Oppo Find X6 Pro), which should improve the photo and video quality. And the new hardware platform allowed for 4K at 60fps video capturing.

The OnePlus Nord 3 also features Dolby Atmos-capable stereo speakers, a large 5,000mAh battery with 80W SuperVOOC charging, and runs on Android 13 with the latest OxygenOS 13.1 launcher.

OnePlus Nord 3 specs at a glance:

• Body: 162.0x75.1x8.15mm, 194g; Glass front (Dragontrail glass), glass back (Gorilla Glass 5), plastic frame, IP54, dust and water splash resistant
• Display: 6.74" Fluid AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1240x2772px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 390ppi.
• Chipset: Mediatek MT6983 Dimensity 9000 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.05 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.85 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Mali-G710 MC10.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 16GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 13, OxygenOS 13.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 120˚; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 5000mAh; 80W wired.
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.3, aptX HD; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers.

One thing that's not obvious at first is the Quad-Bayer 16MP selfie camera. These type of selfie cameras, at least at this resolution, should be limited to budget phones and not mid-rangers, worse, premium mid-rangers.

And now that we got that out of the way, let's pop this Nord out of its box.

Unboxing the OnePlus Nord 3

The Nord 3 ships in a black box with blue Nord logo(s). Inside you will find the phone itself with a pre-applied protective film, an 80W power adapter, and one of the signature USB red cables (A-C).

There is a large paper compartment, but there is no protective case inside. Instead, you will find some paperwork, a Nord thank you letter, and a Red Cable club exclusive card.