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OnePlus started out by launching smartphones that were priced incredibly low. They weren’t necessarily flagship quality devices, but for their prices and the accompanying specs, it was hard to deny that they were great value for money. Unfortunately, over the years, the company has steadily increased the price of its phones where it is almost on par with flagship phones by other companies.
While they do have their fair share of fans, we have to admit that this has resulted in the company losing one of their unique selling points.
Four reasons the OnePlus Nord will be the best phone of 2020 and one reason it won’t
Enter the OnePlus Nord, the company’s attempt at launching a more affordable mid-range phone, but is it too late? Here are five reasons why we think that the OnePlus Nord will be dead on arrival.
Price
OnePlus has yet to officially announce the price of the OnePlus Nord, but the rumors are claiming that it could be priced at around $500. While this is most definitely cheaper than its flagship handsets, $500 does seem a bit steep when you consider that companies such as Apple are selling the iPhone SE for $399, and with Google’s Pixel 4a rumored to be priced at $350, it’s hard to ignore that there are other alternatives out there for a lower price.
Lack of US availability
The North American market is one of the largest markets in the world, which is why many companies choose to launch their products in the US, but that’s not what OnePlus is doing. This was confirmed during an interview with Android Authority where the company’s co-founder Carl Pei said that the phone will only be launching in Europe and India for now.
While the US market is not the only market, it is a pretty big market and ignoring it could be a mistake.
Extremely competitive mid-range market
There are a ton of mid-range smartphones out there and choosing to launch it in markets such as India while ignoring the US could seal the phone’s DOA fate. India has plenty of smartphone makers themselves who are making even cheaper handsets catered towards the local market.
Plus, there are also a bunch of smartphones from Chinese OEMs who are making gaming phones with impressive specs and features that would render the OnePlus Nord useless. An example would be the Xiaomi Black Shark 3 handset which features flagship hardware and is priced almost the same.
No official IP rating
In this day and age, making phones water-resistant seems to be a standard practice, but OnePlus has opted not to do so. During an interview with YouTuber MKBHD, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei confirmed that the phone will not come with an official IP rating. Pei does note that they did try to ensure that the phone is capable of withstanding water immersion of up to 30cm for 30 seconds, we feel it’s not quite the same.
There is a certain peace of mind that comes with knowing that your phone has an official IP rating, plus 30cm and 30 seconds doesn’t feel particularly protective and could be an area of concern for some customers.
No headphone jack
The headphone jack has been slowly disappearing from smartphones in recent years, but for the most part, it seems to be higher-end smartphones that have removed the headphone jack in favor of larger batteries and the inclusion of other components. Lower to mid-range handsets typically still keep their headphone jacks around, and we have to say that we are disappointed that there isn’t one on the OnePlus Nord.
Even with higher-end flagship phones, there are still many users who are lamenting the loss of the port. While there are plenty of wireless headphones and earphones around, it means that they’ll need to spend more money on a phone that isn’t necessarily that cheap to begin with.
Conclusion
While these are the reasons we believe that the OnePlus Nord could be DOA, we wouldn’t be surprised if the company proved us wrong. After all, there is something for everyone and of course, there will be plenty of OnePlus fans who might be pretty excited with the phone’s specs and features and don’t mind paying the price. We’ll have to wait and see how well the phone actually does, but do check back with us on the 21st of July for the official announcement.
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