Introduction
The OnePlus Nord CE6 is the younger brother of the recently launched Nord 6. It targets a lower price bracket than the Nord 6 with some reductions that are perhaps too much.
The basic design, build quality and display of the Nord CE6 remains the same as the Nord 6. However, it gets a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset, one less camera on the back, a smaller (but still quite large) 8,000mAh battery, as well as lower memory and storage configurations. Also, that display now only goes up to 144Hz instead of 165Hz, but you won’t notice.
OnePlus Nord CE6 specs at a glance:
- Body: 162.5×77.5×8.5mm, 215g; plastic body; IP68/IP69K Dust-resistant and water-resistant (high-pressure water jets; submersible up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes), MIL-STD-810H Compliant*, *Does not guarantee use in harshness or extreme conditions.
- Display: 6.78″ AMOLED, 144Hz, 3840Hz PWM, HDR, 800 nits (typ), 1800 nits (HBM), 3600 nits (peak), 1272x2772px resolution, 19.61:9 aspect ratio, 450ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM7635-AC Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×2.7 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3×2.4 GHz Cortex-A720 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 810.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1; Non-expandable storage.
- OS/Software: Android 16.
- rear camera: wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 27mm, 1/2.88″, 0.61μm, PDAF, OIS; wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 27mm, 1/2.88″, 0.61μm, PDAF, OIS.
- Front Camera: 32 MP, f/2.0, 21 mm (wide), 1/3.1″, 0.7µm.
- video capture: rear camera:4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, Gyro-EIS, OIS; front camera:4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, Gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 8000mAh; 80W wired, 55W PPS, 13.5W PD, 27W reverse wired, bypass charging.
- Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.2, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, LHDC5; Infrared port.
- various: Fingerprint reader (under the display, optical); Stereo speaker.
The result is a device that is a curious and rather controversial bunch, whose on-paper characteristics often seem worse than those of its predecessors. Can a bigger battery and sturdier build really compensate for this? Let’s find out.
unbox
The Nord CE6 maintains the standard set by other OnePlus packaging. You’ll get the phone with an 80W fast charger, a cable, and a color-matched case.
Once again, one can’t help but wish that the color of the cables had also matched, at least for the blue Nord branding, but other than that, there’s nothing to complain about here.