Skip to main content

New OnePlus budget phone comes packing 2 super-rare features

Side profile of OnePlus Nord N30 5G
OnePlus

OnePlus has introduced a new budget-priced phone for the U.S. market that includes some compelling hardware — and a couple of rare conveniences. The OnePlus Nord N30 5G will set you back by $300 and is already up for preorders in the U.S., with a free pair of earbuds in tow. 

Starting with the standout tricks, this phone comes with a microSD slot for storage expansion. It supports cards with up to 1TB storage capacity, which should be plenty if you are into capturing a lot of videos and high-resolution videos. Just keep in mind that microSD cards of 1TB capacity from reputed brands could cost as much as the phone itself.

OnePlus Nord N30 5G rear face.
OnePlus

Another notable perk is the presence of a 3.5mm headphone jack on the OnePlus Nord N30 5G. You don’t have to fork out extra cash on a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter or splurge on a Bluetooth audio wearable. However, there is more to this OnePlus phone than meets the eye, as some of its hardware perks defy its asking price by a huge margin. 

You are greeted by a 6.7-inch Full HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) display with a 120Hz refresh rate. For comparison, Apple will charge you $800 for the iPhone 14 Plus, but it still keeps you limited to a slow 60Hz LCD screen. And there is no ugly notch to be seen here, as the selfie camera is neatly housed inside a dot-shaped cutout at the top. 

Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 695 chipset powers this phone, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The battery capacity is also fairly generous at 5,000 mAh. Plus, you get support for 50-watt fast charging. OnePlus ships the fast charger in the retail package, just in case you’re irked by the bad precedent set by the thousand-dollar phones from Apple and Samsung. 

OnePlus Nord N30 5G two side view
OnePlus

The surprises continue all the way into the imaging department. You get a massive 108-megapixel camera at the back, assisted by a 2-megapixel depth camera and another 2-megapixel sensor for macro photography. Selfies and video call duties are shouldered by a 16-megapixel front camera that supports night mode photography, too. 

There are a couple of stereo speakers to handle audio output, while authentication is performed by a fingerprint scanner embedded inside the power button on the side. It’s just a shame that the U.S. market is only getting the gray color option and not the peppy lime green trim.

Overall, the OnePlus Nord N30 5G looks like an unbeatable value phone, especially given the feature-rich Android 13-based Oxygen OS software experience. 

Editors' Recommendations

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is a tech journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started writing…
OnePlus 12: news, rumored price, release date, and more
OnePlus 12 in green and white.

A new year approaches, which means a new slate of smartphones will start to hit in a few months. One of the first we’ll see in 2024 should be from OnePlus with its flagship OnePlus 12.

The OnePlus 11 is an excellent phone, as we indicated in our review. It’s one of the best phones you can get in 2023 and is right up there with great competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Read more
OnePlus just teased the OnePlus 12, and it looks incredible
Woman holding a OnePlus 12.

The OnePlus 12 is set to launch on December 5 in China. Ahead of the launch, OnePlus has revealed a teaser and several images of the upcoming flagship. These confirm some major changes in the design and cameras. While the OnePlus 12 seems to build on this year’s OnePlus 11 design language, it is more refined and looks absolutely incredible in the green color option.

OnePlus is shifting the iconic Alert Slider to the opposite side. Up until now, all OnePlus flagship phones have featured the silent/vibrate switch above the volume buttons on the right side. But the OnePlus 12 is shifting it to the left side, and OnePlus has a good reason for it. “By relocating the Alert Slider to the opposite side of the phone, better gaming antennas can be deployed on the OnePlus 12,” says the company. It is said that the repositioning of Alert Slider will allow OnePlus to offer better antenna signal performance and reduce the “game latency by 15%.”

Read more
One of my favorite Samsung features is coming to OnePlus phones
The back of the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 10 Pro.

OnePlus 10 Pro (left) and OnePlus 11 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Android is slowly, but steadily narrowing the precious gulf between phones and PCs. After all, seamless device pairing across iPhones and Macs has been a strong selling point for Apple. Remember the Phone Link system that lets an Android phone offer the same kind of cross-device benefits for an Android-Windows pair as the Apple ecosystem does? Well, OnePlus (and Oppo) are embracing it.

Read more