OnePlus Buds name and more OnePlus Nord 5G specs are confirmed ahead of July 21 launch
The "world's first AR smartphone launch" is right around the corner, but even though we seem to know everything there is to know about the 5G-enabled OnePlus Nord mid-ranger already, the company continues to hype up its first truly affordable smartphone in five years by... gradually confirming stuff.
That's a pretty unconventional buzz-building strategy... for anyone that's not named OnePlus, but believe it or not, there is one big thing scheduled to see daylight on July 21 that's still a huge question mark. We're talking about the brand's long overdue first-ever true wireless earbuds, whose moniker is officially carved in stone at last alongside a few more OnePlus Nord 5G details.
Taking a page from Samsung's playbook rather than Apple's
We have no idea what happened with the OnePlus Pods name that seemed pretty much guaranteed to commercially materialize just last month, but it looks like the company ultimately decided to go with the marketing label that initially made the rumor rounds a while back.
That means OnePlus doesn't plan to boldly embrace the obligatory AirPods comparisons after all, instead adopting a more predictable and conventional name for its "first truly wireless earphones" likely to draw instant parallels with Samsung's Galaxy Buds lineup.
Now you know the name. See our first truly wireless earphones July 21. #OnePlusBuds
— OnePlus (@oneplus) July 13, 2020
Obviously, the hope is the largely mysterious OnePlus Buds will be priced even lower than the original Galaxy Buds, although the inclusion of state-of-the-art features like active noise cancellation would essentially make such a thing impossible. Unfortunately, there's absolutely on word on whether or not that will happen, and in fact, no actual features, specs, or capabilities have been leaked or rumored so far.
All that we know at the time of this writing is the OnePlus Buds will be formally unveiled alongside the OnePlus Nord 5G handset on July 21, as confirmed by the company itself on Twitter.
Six cameras and a dragon
The OnePlus Nord 5G teasing campaign is far from over, even after the phone's full spec sheet was purportedly revealed, with a grand total of three exciting confirmations coming from Instagram in the last few days.
First, the company corroborated all the speculation about the Nord's impressive camera count. OnePlus even showed off a cute device illustration featuring four vertically arranged rear-facing cameras situated in the top left corner, as well as a dual hole punch housing two selfie shooters.
The second revealing teaser was uploaded to the handset's dedicated Instagram page earlier today, confirming (yet again) the use of a "dragon" instead of a mundane "chip." Specifically, we're talking about Qualcomm's upper mid-range Snapdragon 765G here, which reportedly replaced MediaTek's Dimensity 1000 chip in the middle of the smartphone development process for some reason.
Finally, we now know for certain that the OnePlus Nord 5G will be featuring a 105-degree ultra-wide selfie camera in addition to a primary front-facing snapper expected to sport a 32-megapixel sensor. According to the company, this should help prevent many senseless deaths... of selfie stick embarrassment, even though a number of past phones with dual front cameras have largely proven gimmicky and not necessarily superior to their single cam counterparts.
It remains to be seen just how useful and good each of the Nord's six cameras will prove out in the real world following the handset's July 21 announcement. Don't forget that the affordable bad boy is not widely coming to the US, while prospective buyers in select European countries will be able to pre-order the device for 24 hours as early as this Wednesday, July 15.
More importantly, you should keep in mind the OnePlus Nord 5G is expected to cost as little as €500 on the old continent with at least 8 gigs of RAM and 128 gigs of storage space on deck, as well as a main 48MP rear-facing shooter, a flat 6.44-inch Fluid AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate technology, a 4,115mAh battery with Warp Charging 30T capabilities, and of course, a silky smooth OxygenOS 10 skin applied on top of Android 10.
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