New Delhi: The OnePlus Nord CE 5 doesn’t scream for attention with over-the-top marketing or flashy aesthetics but turns heads the moment you pick it up. At a starting price of Rs 24,999, it offers an impressive combination of a huge battery, a fluid screen, and considerate AI capabilities. Here is our full review of the OnePlus Nord CE 5 after spending time with it.
This is the Nord CE 5 that has grown up, providing an almost premium experience without blowing your budget. It can be better, but it is difficult to disagree with its worth.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 Review. (Image Credit: Pragya Singha Roy/News9)
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Design and build
The OnePlus Nord CE 5 is a sleek device. The Nexus Blue variant we got to review exudes a slightly iPhone 16-ish quality in terms of its vertically orientated camera stack and eye-catching colour. There is also one in Black Infinity and Marble Mist. It is 163.58 x 76 x 8.2 mm and weighs 199 g, which is comfortable to hold without being too bulky with the large battery or too thin with the fat grip. The back and frame are plastic, making it fairly lightweight, although the gloss in the finish might attract fingerprints, in which case you might want to wear the provided TPU case.
The dual rear camera is located in the top left, and the LED flash is just beside it, which makes the back clean and modern. The display has a 6.77-inch size and is narrow-bordered, with a centre-top hole for the camera. The volume rocker and power button are placed at the right-hand side with USB Type-C, a SIM tray, and a single speaker on the bottom.
The famous alert slider is gone, sadly, and there is no Plus Key like the Nord 5. The infrared transmitter is hidden behind the back cameras, and you only need to point the back at appliances to operate them. It has an IP54 rating of dust and water resistance, so it should hold up to daily accidents, although using a tempered glass screen protector is also advisable.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 display. (Image Credit: Pragya Singha Roy/News9)
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Display
The Nord CE 5 has a 6.77-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate (switching between 60Hz and 120Hz) and a 300Hz touch sampling rate. It is Widevine L1 certified, and so it offers HD and HDR content streaming on apps such as Netflix and Prime Video. It has a maximum brightness of 1,430 nits, so it can perform in bright outdoor environments, but high-intensity Delhi sun rays can cause glare. Cinematic display mode gives rich colour, though there is the choice of Standard or Vivid modes to taste. In the Photos app, the ProXDR option may oversaturate an image; thus, it is best to turn it off to ensure the same appearance between devices.
The display is also responsive and fluid when streaming shows or scrolling through social media or gaming, even when fingers are wet or sweaty, as the display is optimised to touch. It is not the 144Hz display of the Nord 5, but to a majority of the users, the 120Hz refresh rate is silky smooth.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Performance
The Nord CE 5 is also a powerhouse, running on the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex chipset (a slightly modified version of MediaTek Dimensity 8350), up to 12GB LPDDR5x RAM, and up to 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. It’s a big improvement over the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 used in the Nord CE 4 by a margin of 9% and 25 per cent in single-core and multi-core scores, respectively, in Geekbench 6 (1,315 single, 4,022 multi).
Playing BGMI in OnePlus Nord CE 5. (Image Credit: Pragya Singha Roy/News9)
I loaded the phone with heavy tasks such as editing 4K videos, playing BGMI in HD/Ultra settings, and playing Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt Legends Unite, both of which we played continuously. The Nord CE 5 remained smooth and cool, due to its CryoVelocity VC cooling system, and surface temperatures seldom reached 40°C. OxygenOS 15 (Android 15) is bloatware-free and snappy, and the only bloatware is optional Amazon, Cred, and Candy Crush Saga applications during the setup. The phone has four years of OS security updates and six years of patches and thus will be long-lasting.
Ultra game mode in OnePlus Nord CE 5.
Multitasking works without any lagging between applications. The only snag was in intensive use of the GPS in hot weather, in which it stuttered a bit. The charging bypass is important to the gamer, as it keeps the phone charged and the gameplayuninterrupted.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: AI features
The Nord CE 5 has the integration of the OnePlus AI features that are not gimmicky. Absent the Plus Key present on Nord 5, the AI Plus Mind can be activated by a three-finger swipe to save and sort notes, quotes or screenshots. With AI Search, you can search using phrases such as last week and get credible responses. VoiceScribe is able to summarise the recorded calls, and the screen-scanning translation is good to do quick translations, but it is not perfect. Gemini Assistant and Circle to Search built-in by Google also improve the smart experience. Such tools become part of everyday life, and the phone becomes convenient and natural.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Camera
The Nord CE 5 features a 50MP main sensor (Sony LYT-600) with OIS, an 8MP ultra-wide (OV08D10), and a 16MP front camera (Sony IMX480). The main camera is able to take sharp and detailed photos in daylight with balanced colours, but blues might be a bit saturated. Night mode works great with stationary objects, and it can compete with any low-light functionality of the Nord 5, though moving objects can cause blur. The 2x in-sensor zoom (26mm or 35mm focal lengths in 1x, 51mm in 2x) comes in useful with portraits, and the edge detection is okay.
The ultra-wide camera can be used during the daytime, but at night, it is problematic due to the noise as well as soft details. Selfie cameras produce fine images in good light, but low-light selfies are a bit smoothened. Video recording is also good, at 4K/60fps (no OIS) or 1080p/30fps (with OIS) on the main camera and 1080p/60fps on the selfie camera. The ultra-wide has a cap of 1080p/30fps without OIS. In general, the camera system is solid at its price range but does not perform any better than its competitors, such as the Vivo T4, in low-light conditions.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 benchmarks.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Battery
The most notable aspect of the Nord CE 5 is its huge 7,100 mAh battery, which is among the biggest any 2025 smartphone has. It is optimised to bring two days of mixed use, such as gaming, streaming, and navigation with the help of the efficient Dimensity 8350 Apex chipset. In synthetic tests it endured 27 hours and 10 minutes of an HD video loop and 17 hours and 44 minutes of PCMark Work 3.0. The real-world performance depends, but even heavy users can have a full day with ease.
The 80W SuperVOOC charger in the box can charge the phone in 1 hour, and it can be used with 18W PD and 33W PPS to offer universal charging needs. The Nord CE 5 is an impressive phone, whether you want to be a power user or simply have a phone that does not require charging with every turn of the clock.
Verdict: A mid-range marvel with few compromises
The OnePlus Nord CE 5 is an all-rounder mid-ranger that performs well where it should: performance, battery life, and software. It is priced at Rs 24,999 (8GB+128GB), Rs 26,999 (8GB+256GB), and Rs 28,999 (12GB+256GB), which makes it a great value competitor to other smartphones such as the iQOO Z10 and Motorola Edge 60 Fusion. This powerful phone with a 7,100 mAh battery, fluid 120 Hz AMOLED screen, and useful AI features makes it an attractive everyday phone. Nevertheless, there are minor cons such as the lack of the alert slider, single speaker, and decent low-light ultra-wide performance.
The Nord CE 5 is one of the best models to consider when looking to own a mid-range phone that does not cost as much as a flagship phone. Our score is 4.3 out of 5, which is a perfect blend of power, style and price.