The OnePlus Nord 5 doesn’t feel like a Nord anymore. That’s not a criticism, it’s a wake-up call to every other phone in the mid-range segment. This is the first Nord device to pack a Snapdragon 8-series chipset, a 144Hz OLED panel, and a camera system that borrows heavily from OnePlus’ flagships. While last year’s Nord 4 charmed us with its metal design, the Nord 5 feels like OnePlus turning a page, leaning harder into performance, AI, and competitive gaming than it ever has in this series. With a revamped design language, more ambitious hardware, and a price that still stays comfortably below premium flagships, the Nord 5 tries to do it all. But does it manage to keep its promise without overreaching? Let’s find out.
The Nord 5 dials back the nostalgia of the Nord 4’s all-metal unibody and trades it in for something sleeker, more refined, and a touch more premium-feeling. At just 8.1mm thin, with flat edges and barely-there 1.65mm bezels around the display, the Nord 5 looks and feels like it belongs in a higher price bracket. Though it is 11 odd grams heavier than the Nord 4, likely due to the buffed up battery pack.
The Marble Sands version is the star of the show as it features a glossy platinum surface with light like ripples on water. The Dry Ice colour offers a calm, pastel blue aesthetic, and Phantom Grey keeps it subtle with a matte black finish that avoids smudges while maintaining class. All three finishes are tactile and polished, striking a balance between flash and formality.
Gone is the iconic alert slider, once a signature OnePlus flourish. In its place is the new “Plus Key”, a tactile button on the left side of the frame. While it lacks the muscle memory charm of the physical slider, this addition signals OnePlus’ evolving priorities: the Plus Key acts as a dedicated gateway to AI features like Plus Mind.
Structurally, the phone feels solid in hand, with tight tolerances and a pleasing weight distribution. There’s also IP65 water and dust resistance, which adds peace of mind for daily use. The button placement is ergonomic, and while the smooth finish might feel slippery to some, it’s hard to deny the design’s overall sophistication. It may not have the raw nostalgia of the Nord 4’s metal build, but it definitely looks and feels like a high-end phone.
The OnePlus Nord 5 might just have the best display in its price segment. It features a 6.83-inch 1.5K OLED panel with a silky-smooth 144Hz refresh rate, but beyond the numbers, it’s the refinement that stands out. Whether you’re scrolling, gaming, or watching HDR content, this panel handles motion, colour, and contrast with poise.
In our brightness tests, the Nord 5 hit 1280 nits manually, and peaked at 1560 nits in auto mode, just shy of its advertised 1800 nits, but still excellent for outdoor legibility even under harsh sunlight. This is paired with Gorilla Glass 7i for added protection against wear and tear.
In Calman testing using a colourimeter, the Nord 5’s Natural profile delivered an average deltaE of just 0.5 and a maximum deltaE of 1.9, which is frankly phenomenal. For context: a deltaE of under 1 is considered indistinguishable to the human eye. This means the reds you see while editing Instagram Stories, the blues in your YouTube thumbnails, or the greens in that recipe reel are actually true to life. You’re seeing content closer to what the creator intended.
The grayscale accuracy is equally solid, blacks are OLED-deep with a measured black luminance of just 0.005 cd/m² which makes watching dark Netflix scenes or browsing in bed a genuinely immersive experience.
The touch response is also on point, rated at 3000Hz, making the display feel faster and more responsive whether you’re in the middle of a heated battle in BGMI or scrolling through the Instagram feed. And if you’re caught in the rain, Aqua Touch 2.0 ensures the screen still responds accurately even with wet or sweaty fingers.
Ultimately, this isn’t just a “good for the price” panel; it’s good, period. Whether you’re a gamer, a Netflix binger, or someone who just wants their wallpaper to look exactly how it should, the Nord 5’s display will deliver.
The Nord 5 marks a significant performance leap over its predecessor, thanks to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. While not the absolute top-of-the-line chip in its class (the Poco F7 edges it out with the newer 8s Gen 4), the Nord 5 still delivers flagship-grade performance, especially when compared to last year’s Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 in the Nord 4.
| Benchmark | Nord 5 | Nord 4 | Poco F7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnTuTu | 1,476,520 | 1,178,370 | 2,083,452 |
| Geekbench (SC/MC) | 1952 / 4890 | 1166 / 4077 | 1981 / 6001 |
| CPU Throttle Test | 84% | 77% | 90% |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 18,732 | 11,278 | 16,953 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme | 3134 | 3076 | 3811 |
These results place the Nord 5 comfortably above the Nord 4 across every performance metric: CPU, GPU, stability, and sustained output. However, the Poco F7 remains the top dog in this segment, particularly in raw benchmarks. That said, numbers don’t tell the full story.
In my use, the Nord 5 barely breaks a sweat. It opens apps in a snap, handles multitasking like a pro, and doesn’t show signs of memory pressure even when juggling heavy apps like Google Maps, Instagram, and WhatsApp side-by-side. I experienced no stutter when opening YouTube PiP + Chrome + camera. The LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage combo keeps things fluid, even with resource-hungry tasks like Lightroom editing or rapid file transfers.
Gaming on the Nord 5 is a stellar experience. We played BGMI at 144 FPS with an average frame rate of 142 FPS, and 100% smoothness, all while staying cool, just 38.6°C after a 20-minute session. This is where the massive 7,300 mm² Cryo-Velocity vapour chamber shows its worth. The phone maintains thermal stability better than the Nord 4 and even holds its own next to the Poco F7, despite slightly lower scores in the 3DMark stress test.
Where the Nord 5 really flexes is stability under pressure; the 84% throttle score beats the Nord 4’s 77% and stays comfortably behind the Poco F7’s 90%, but unlike some other devices that only hit their peak in short bursts, the Nord 5 feels consistently fast.
On the software side, OxygenOS 15 on Android 15 remains a highlight. It’s clean, smooth, and bloat-free aside from a few removable pre-installs. Animations are fluid, transitions are slick, and OnePlus’s 4+6 year update promise is the kind of long-term support that should be standard but isn’t.
Then there’s the new Plus Key, OnePlus’s answer to productivity hardware. Instead of the traditional alert slider, you now get a customizable AI shortcut that lets you quickly summon Plus Mind, save screen content, or access AI Search and other on-device smart features, including Gemini.
In short, while the Poco F7 wins on raw horsepower, the Nord 5 wins on balance. It’s not the most powerful phone at this price, but it might just be the most well-rounded. And in everyday use, that matters more than synthetic bragging rights.
The OnePlus Nord 5 doesn’t just up its performance game; it brings serious stamina to match. It packs a 6,800mAh battery, the largest ever seen in a Nord device, and it shows.
In our PCMark Work 3.0 battery test, the Nord 5 clocked an impressive 15 hours and 35 minutes, and my usage mirrors this: even with a heavy mix of social media, camera use, GPS, and YouTube, the phone comfortably powers through a full day and then some.
For most users, this translates to two days of light to moderate use, or a solid full day of heavy usage without hitting battery anxiety territory. Whether you’re navigating on Google Maps, watching HDR content, or gaming at 120+ FPS, the battery dips gradually, not in sharp chunks.
Charging isn’t the fastest in its class, but it’s no slouch. The bundled 80W adapter takes the Nord 5 from 0 to 100% in around 55–60 minutes, which is respectable given the battery size. It’s not quite as blistering as the 100W charging seen on the Nord 4, but in exchange, you’re getting longer endurance and smarter power management.
Speaking of which, the Nord 5 brings Bypass Charging into the mix. When gaming, it intelligently routes power directly to the chipset instead of pushing it through the battery, keeping thermals in check and extending battery health. There’s also OnePlus’ Battery Health Engine, which helps retain 80% battery capacity even after four years of daily charging.
Overall, the Nord 5’s battery life is less about speed-demon charging and more about practical reliability. It’s built to last, not just for the day, but for years.
The OnePlus Nord 5 is easily the most ambitious Nord camera setup yet and delivers a refined and dependable camera experience, particularly impressive for a phone in its price category. Its strength lies in the main sensor’s consistency, the versatility of its digital zoom, and its colour science, which holds up well across diverse lighting scenarios.
In daylight, the main 24mm f/1.8 wide camera consistently produces sharp, well-exposed images with accurate colours and pleasing contrast. Photos like the subject on the tree trunk and wide park pathway demonstrate not just excellent surface-level detail, but also fine rendering of textures in foliage, bark, and architecture. The dynamic range is commendable, too, and preserves highlight detail in skies while pulling out shadows from under tree canopies and shaded structures.
Even low-light scenes, often a weakness in mid-range phones, are handled with surprising finesse. The cityscape shot overlooking lit buildings and reflections on water is a standout; it balances brightness and clarity without smudging the shadows or overexposing the highlights. However, results aren’t always uniform. While night shots of architectural landmarks like Ho Chi Minh City Hall hold up well, more challenging scenes, such as cafes with mixed lighting and moving subjects, tend to soften, showing visible noise and blur. Still, the Nord 5 remains competent and better-than-expected in static low-light scenarios.
The zoom performance at 2x (48mm) is particularly noteworthy. It’s a clean crop from the main sensor, yet the results preserve detail and tonal consistency without looking overly processed.
Even 4x zoom shots, while softer, remain usable, a rare feat for non-telephoto systems.
The portrait mode delivers clean subject isolation with natural skin tones. While not flawless, it avoids the overly aggressive bokeh or harsh edge detection seen in many peers. Portraits in natural light feel especially organic.
Meanwhile, close-up and macro-style shots from the main sensor show how well the camera handles near subjects, retaining good focus, accurate colours, and depth, even with complex textures like desserts or plated meals.
The ultrawide camera is functional in good light, delivering expansive perspectives with reasonable distortion correction. However, it’s less consistent in low light, where softness and noise creep in, especially visible in scenes like the night-time café exterior.
In short, the Nord 5 camera focuses on doing the essentials well. It offers strong daylight performance, a dependable main sensor, a surprisingly effective digital zoom, and decent portraits. The limitations of ultrawide low-light performance and edge detection quirks are expected at this price and don’t detract from the phone’s photographic reliability. For everyday photography, food, travel, and even some late-night city captures, the Nord 5 gets the job done.
The Nord 5 is OnePlus putting its foot down. No more mid-range safety nets, no more playing it cute with nostalgia. Starting at Rs 31,999, this phone steps into territory where expectations are high and competition is ruthless, and yet, it holds its ground with surprising confidence.
You’re getting a 144Hz OLED that punches above its price, a Snapdragon 8-series chip that keeps pace with daily demands and gaming alike, and a camera setup that finally feels like it belongs in this decade. The LYT-700 sensor doesn’t just impress on paper; it consistently delivers in daylight, macros, and even tricky backlit scenes. The battery life is outstanding, the software is lean, and the new Plus Key brings something genuinely useful to the table instead of gimmicks.
That’s not to say it’s flawless. The ultra-wide camera feels like a half-step, and 80W charging, while still fast, feels a little slower than what we got last year. Some might mourn the alert slider. But what you get in return is a phone that feels more future-forward, with hardware and polish that suggest OnePlus is back to treating its mid-range like a flagship, just under a different name.
So, is the Nord 5 the best phone under 40000? If raw benchmark bragging rights are your thing, the Poco F7 might still edge it out. But if you’re after consistency, design refinement, long-term software support, and a genuinely delightful display-camera combo, then the Nord 5 is a solid choice. In a segment that often swings between extremes: spec-chasing or cost-cutting, the Nord 5 finds equilibrium. And sometimes, that’s exactly what makes a phone stand out.
