The 108MP camera on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is based on the 1/1.67” ISOCELL HM6 sensor. It has 0.64µm pixels that can be binned 9-to-1 for 12MP output with 1.92µm effective pixel size (up from 64MP/0.7µm on the Nord CE 2 Lite). This also allows for 3x lossless zoom (and up to 6x digital zoom). With both CE and Lite labels, it shouldn’t surprise you that this is the only real camera on the rear, the other two modules are a 2MP macro and a 2MP depth sensor.
The Nord CE 3 Lite is powered by the same
Snapdragon 695 as the 2022 model. This 6nm chip offers decent performance for
the class, but it’s no match for the 7-series Snapdragons or the new Dimensity
chips. One of its biggest limitations is the 1080p @ 30fps cap on video recording,
which feels unbefitting of a 108MP camera.
At least this year OnePlus bumped up the
base RAM to 8GB and the OxygenOS 13.1 (Android 13) system can add 8GB of
virtual RAM on top of that. The storage options are 128GB or 256GB of UFS 2.2,
plus a hybrid microSD slot, which can take in a second SIM or a memory card up
to 1TB. Besides the camera, OnePlus also switched the screen on the Nord CE 3
Lite. It features a 6.72” LCD with FHD+ resolution (20:9, 8-bit) with 120Hz
refresh and 240Hz touch sampling rates. It has a typical brightness of 550 nits
and a peak of 680 nits. The display is guarded by a sheet of Gorilla Glass
(version unknown).
The phone slimmed down a bit and now
measures 8.3mm thick (down from 8.5mm). It still weighs the same 195g. There
are two colorways at launch, Pastel Lime and Chromatic Gray. Shaving off 0.2mm
didn’t affect the battery, it still has 5,000mAh capacity as before. In fact,
the battery is the biggest upgrade after the camera – it now supports 67W
SuperVOOC. This means that a 30 minute charge can bring a flat battery to 80%
(compared to 50% with the 33W system of the previous model). The new model got
the SuperVOOC Endurance Edition, which prevents overcharging and slows down the
aging of the battery – it should last you 4 years of daily charging.
OnePlus held onto some of the features
that make this a good value for money phone. We already mentioned the microSD
slot, it also has stereo speakers (with 200% Ultra Volume Mode) and a 3.5mm
jack for wired headphones. The phone comes with a charger, USB-C cable (USB
2.0, which is what the phone supports) and a pre-applied screen protector.
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite will be
delivered to European buyers starting on April 25. We're only seeing the
8/128GB configuration for now, which is priced € 330/£ 300. In India the phone is
priced ₹ 20,000 for the 8/128GB model and ₹ 22,000 for the version with 256GB
storage, it will go on Sale on April 11.
