OnePlus gears up to drop the Nord 5 and Nord CE5, its mid-range marvels

There’s a certain rhythm to OnePlus launches. A steady pulse that fans have learned to anticipate. The rhythm includes spec leaks, teaser tweets, and the eventual drop of Nord-branded hardware that blurs the line between mid-range sensibility and flagship phone ambition. And if the latest whispers from the X-verse are anything to go by, that rhythm is about to crescendo.

Mark your calendars, July 8 is the rumoured launch date for not one, but two new OnePlus phones – the Nord 5 and Nord CE5.

OnePlus Nord 5: Big battery energy meets MediaTek muscle

Let’s start with the Nord 5, the de facto successor to last year’s Nord 4. This is a phone that appears to be gunning for a new kind of spec-sheet dominance. The star of the show will likely be a gargantuan 7,000 mAh battery, the kind usually found in rugged, ultra-endurance phones or emergency power banks. Paired with 100W wired charging, OnePlus seems determined to make battery anxiety a thing of the past.

Under the hood, the Nord 5 will allegedly swap out Qualcomm for MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400e, a high-efficiency, AI-forward chip that could shake up upper-midrange performance expectations. On paper, that means you get flagship-level responsiveness with a lighter thermal and power footprint.

Up front, expect a flat OLED display rocking 1.5K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and an in-display fingerprint sensor. Imaging is rumoured to be handled by a 50MP main sensor with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 16MP selfie cam; a trio that hints at being good enough for the ‘Gram, but we’ll wait for the real-world shots.

The build will likely feature a mix of glass and plastic, which might disappoint some, but it helps keep weight and cost down.

OnePlus Nord CE5: The CE gets serious

Then there’s the Nord CE5 – short for “Core Edition”, though these days it might as well stand for “Competitive Edge”. OnePlus has been using the CE line to experiment with hardware that balances cost-efficiency with solid everyday performance, and the CE5 seems to carry that torch forward.

ALSO READ: OnePlus Nord 5 leak hints at big battery, sleek display

It’s expected to feature a 6.7-inch flat OLED display with 120Hz refresh, the Dimensity 8350 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a generous 256GB of storage. The camera setup will probably mirror the Nord 5 with a 50MP + 8MP + 16MP setup, but the battery is somehow even more outrageous – 7,100 mAh with 80W charging.

Yes, in 2025, the Nord series is officially putting most flagship phones to shame on the battery front.

A launch worth waiting for

If this rumour holds, OnePlus will be pulling the covers off both phones on July 8, almost exactly a year after the Nord 4 debuted. The Nord lineup has become OnePlus’ volume mover in India and parts of Europe, where value-driven specs and long battery life tend to resonate more than flashy foldables or ultra-premium flagships.

The bigger question is how OnePlus positions these two phones price-wise, especially with a market already teeming with compelling options from competing brands. But if the Nord 5 and CE5 stick the landing, they might just be the battery kings of 2025, and possibly the best MediaTek-powered phones not trying to cosplay as flagships.