Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus officially confirmed the launch of its latest offering, the Nord 2T 5G, for May 19. The confirmation comes after much speculation about the latest from the OnePlus stable.

According to reports, the Nord 2T 5G — the latest in the company's burgeoning Nord line-up — will sport a 6.43-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate, with a hole-punch 32 MP selfie camera. The handset will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC (system on a chip) and will have up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The phone will feature a 4,500 mAh battery with support for 80W charging, and will run OxygenOS 12, based on Android 12.

As for the cameras, the Nord 2T 5G boasts of a 50 MP primary shooter with optical image stabilisation, and an 8 MP ultrawide lens, and a 2 MP monochrome sensor. The price is expected to start around the Rs 35,000 mark.

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What's in a name? Plenty of confusion

The latest update from the company adds to a bewildering range of the Nord line-up of smartphones. For reasons best known to itself, OnePlus sells the Nord 2 5G, Nord CE 5G, Nord CE 2 5G, Nord CE 2 Lite 5G and soon, Nord 2T 5G.

To add to the confusion, each phone runs on a different processor, making the process of choosing a Nord smartphone a head-scratching one. Sample this: the Nord 2 5G and CE 2 5G run on MediaTek Dimensity processors, while the Nord CE 5G, CE Lite 5G run on Snapdragon chipsets. Further, all Nord phones — including the upcoming 2T 5G — each sport a 6.43-inch AMOLED display and a 4,500 mAh battery, but the CE Lite has a 6.59-inch LCD display and a 5,000 mAh battery. The price ranges from Rs 19,999 (CE Lite 5G) to Rs 27,999 (2 5G).

Cameras

The OnePlus Nord 2 5G and 2T 5G sport a 50 MP primary camera, while the others have a 64 MP main shooter. Except for the CE Lite 5G, all phones feature an 8 MP ultrawide lens and a 2 MP monocrome lens. The Lite 5G boasts of a 2 MP "depth assist camera" and a 2 MP macro shooter. The Nord 2T 5G and 2 5G have a 32 MP selfie camera, while the megapixel count drops to 16 for the other three models.

Confusing, right?

It wasn't always this way, but the writing was on the wall for those who followed the smartphone release pattern — or the lack thereof — of OnePlus.

When it started out, OnePlus's phone releases were simple, and easier to follow. The company, at least for the first two years, launched one flagship a year. There were attempts at making affordable phones, like the OnePlus X, but we don't talk about that anymore.

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From the 3 series onwards, OnePlus started a mid-cycle release. The company would launch a flagship around May, and invariably, three months down the line, launch a ‘T’ variant with slightly updated specifications. This held true until 2020, when the company launched the first Nord smartphone.

Let's look at the OnePlus smartphones released over the years.

As you can see, there is no apparent pattern to how OnePlus releases its smartphones, further complicating the question of when to buy your next OnePlus. The company has already released five smartphones in the first five months of 2022. What if you buy a smartphone now, only for a new one to be released in a couple of months, or, as was the case this year, multiple models in consecutive months — April and May?

Only OnePlus can answer that question.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:May 13, 2022 7:45 PM IST