OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Is This the Best All-Round Mid-Range Phone for Buyers in 2025?

Smartphone battleground is fiercest in the ₹25,000–₹35,000 segment in India. Every brand has to walk a tightrope between performance and pricing. With the Nord 5, the OnePlus brand is taking on the competition head-on, walking the same path as it has before. This is the first Nord phone to sport a Snapdragon 8-series chip, a feature previously reserved for its premium siblings. Couple that with a 6800mAh battery (India exclusive), a class-leading 144Hz AMOLED display, and perhaps the best selfie camera under ₹35K, and you get a phone that feels anything but “mid-range” on paper.

But paper specs don’t win market share — real-world performance does. Especially in India, where value-conscious buyers compare every detail with rivals like the POCO F7, iQOO Neo 10, and Motorola Edge 60 Pro. Last year’s Nord 4 was a design rebel with its metal unibody. The Nord 5 dials that down, opting for a more conventional glass build, but trades it for serious performance chops aimed at gamers, streamers, and social media creators alike.

So, is the Nord 5 just an iterative update, or has OnePlus finally cracked the code for a true all-rounder at ₹30K? We’ve tested it across Delhi heat, 5G networks in NCR, to see if it has taken on top competition or not?.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Design and Build

The OnePlus Nord 5 marks a noticeable departure from the bold, standout design language that defined its predecessor. The Nord 5 leans back feels deliberate. The combination of a glass back with a polycarbonate frame gives Samsung’s mid-tier A-series vibe to me. Having said that, the frame feels tightly constructed, and the frosted matte finish on the rear glass does more than just fend off smudges. It provides a reassuring grip that adds subtle polish to the overall feel.

With a 6.83-inch flat display with symmetrical bezels around it, and dimensions measuring 163.4 x 77 x 8.1mm, the Nord 5 is a big phone by any standard. Yet despite its 211g weight, it never feels unwieldy. That’s partly thanks to smart engineering—the added heft comes from the significantly larger 6800mAh battery, but the phone manages to maintain a solid, balanced in-hand feel.

The Alert Slider, once a defining OnePlus feature, has officially been retired in this lineup. In its place is the Plus Key, a new programmable button situated on the left frame. Like the OnePlus 13R before it, the Nord 5 uses this customizable key to toggle system settings or launch functions—camera, flashlight, translation, and even the company’s new AI Plus Mind app. It retains the old slider’s three-stage functionality (ring, vibrate, silent), but the experience is mixed. While power users will appreciate the extra utility, its placement makes it hard to reach one-handed, and accidental triggers—especially during gaming—can get annoying.

Other aspects of the build follow a similarly familiar script. The power button and volume rocker live on the right side, while the bottom of the phone houses a USB-C 2.0 port, dual SIM tray, speaker grill, and primary microphone. Up top, there’s a secondary mic, another speaker vent, and—somewhat surprisingly in 2025—an IR blaster. It’s a minor detail, but for users who still value universal remote control functionality, it’s a pleasant nod to versatility.

Security and convenience features are solid. The in-display optical fingerprint sensor is snappy and accurate, while face unlock is quick but still not secure enough for sensitive apps like mobile banking. The phone also carries an IP65 rating, offering resistance to dust and splashes—enough to survive a kitchen spill or sudden drizzle, but not intended for submersion.

And in a rare but welcome move, OnePlus continues to include thoughtful in-box accessories. The pre-applied screen protector is of good quality, and the bundled clear case is sturdy enough to offer real protection out of the gate—reminders that user experience still matters in this increasingly minimalist era of smartphone packaging.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Display

The OnePlus Nord 5 display has seen some improvement. At 6.83 inches, its AMOLED display is noticeably bigger than the Nord 4, and it is one of the largest in its segment.

With a 1.5K resolution (2772 x 1240 pixels) and a pixel density of 450 PPI, the panel offers good sharpness for text, UI, and media. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, which isn’t the best Corning has to offer but good enough.

Since its an AMOLED panel, which means users get the usual perks: deep blacks, vibrant color output, and excellent contrast, making it good for content consumption. Viewing angles are top-tier, and colors remain true even when viewed off-axis.

In terms of brightness, OnePlus claims a peak of 1800 nits. While on paper, it falls flat against like the Motorola Edge 60, which claims to push up to 4500 nits, the Nord 5 display holds up under direct sunlight well. Outdoor readability remains mostly solid, and in bright daylight, UI elements stay clear and accessible. At night, the display dims significantly and comfortably, without harsh transitions or eye strain.

The screen supports 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and the default tuning feels well-balanced. Users can toggle between Vivid, Natural, and Pro display color profiles, which users can choose as per their preference.

One of the more hyped specs is the 144Hz refresh rate, but in reality, I haven’t seen it go above 120Hz for day-to-day tasks. The adaptive refresh rate system, dynamically brings down the refresh rate to 60Hz for static screens to save battery. Since it’s not an LTPO panel, it can’t reach that 1Hz like the OnePlus 13 can.

That said, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support are both present and well-implemented. HDR content from platforms like Netflix and YouTube pops with controlled highlights and improved tonal separation. The panel is also compatible with Google’s Ultra HDR standard, giving photos a boost in dynamic range and brightness without making them look overly processed.

For extended viewing comfort, the Nord 5 integrates 3,840Hz PWM dimming, a key feature for users sensitive to flicker in darker environments.

OnePlus also offers OPPO’s Aqua Touch 2.0,  a subtle but meaningful feature that allows you to use the phone even when your hands are wet or in humid conditions.

OnePlus Nord CE5 Review: Everyday & Gaming Performance, Thermals and Benchmarks

With the Nord 5, OnePlus has stepped up its game in the performance department. For the first time, a Nord device comes equipped with a Snapdragon 8-series chip—specifically, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, built on TSMC’s 4nm process. It’s a meaningful upgrade from the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 found in the Nord 4.

The new Adreno 735 GPU is clocked higher than its predecessor, offering a tangible leap in graphic output. And that boost is noticeable. In everyday use, the OnePlus Nord 5 feels effortlessly fast. Apps open immediately. Scrolling, switching between apps, and heavy multitasking all stay buttery smooth, aided by OxygenOS 15 (*cough ColorOS15*), which runs on Android 15 and feels tightly optimized for this hardware.

Performance tuning here feels dialed in. During our testing, there were virtually no signs of stutter or slowdown, even when jumping between memory-intensive apps. Animations are fluid, and the phone retains apps in memory surprisingly well.

Gaming Performance

The OnePlus Nord 5 is a standout in the mid-range category. Games like Call of Duty: Mobile, BGMI, and Genshin Impact run at high settings without dropped frames. COD Mobile, BGMI, and Free Fire use Adaptive Frame Booster to push gameplay closer to 120fps. That said, actual frame rates can fluctuate. BGMI tends to average around 120fps even when settings are cranked, and CODM often stays around 90fps. But it’s still an impressive feat for a phone in this price range.

Compared to direct rivals like the Motorola Edge 60 Pro, the Nord 5 holds its ground well. In fact, its GPU performance is stronger, delivering better sustained performance in stress tests and longer gaming sessions. Titles that support high refresh rates feel fluid, and thermal management keeps things cool.

Thermal Performance

Under the hood, the Nord 5 features a 7,300 mm² vapor chamber cooling system with a total dissipation area of over 32,000 mm², OnePlus prefer to market it as Cryo-Velocity VC chamber.

During our test, the Nord 5 handled heat well. Even during extended gaming sessions and synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme, performance throttling is minimal. The phone hits a peak temperature of 46°C but cools down quickly.

We noticed the area surrounding Plus Key and the top edge of the frame warm up, but that never seems to spread across the back or affect usability. Compared to rivals like the Poco F7, which touches similar temperatures but shows more throttling, the Nord 5’s thermal efficiency feels more refined.

One feature that gamers will appreciate is Bypass Charging support, which lets the phone draw power directly from the adapter during gameplay rather than charging the battery. This reduces heat buildup, minimizes battery wear, and keeps performance stable over long gaming sessions.

OnePlus Nord 5 Benchmark Results

On the benchmark front, the Nord 5 posts competitive scores:

• Geekbench 6 ranges from 1982 (single-core) and 5139 (multi-core).
• AnTuTu v10 scores hover between 1.46 million.
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmarks land between 3220, with GPU stability of up to 86%.
• PCMark Work 3.0 scores exceed 18,700, showing solid daily productivity performance.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Software

The Nord 5 ships with OxygenOS 15, based on Android 15, right out of the box. In day-to-day use, the Nord 5 performs well. Apps open instantly, multitasking is effortless, and animations feel crisp and fluid. There’s no lag, no stutter, and almost no friction, even when switching between resource-intensive tasks. Compared to Motorola’s Hello UI, which can feel a little undercooked on transitions and app launch times, OxygenOS 15 feels faster, smoother, and more polished.

The OxygenOS 15 remains one of the cleanest Android skins around, though it does come preloaded with a handful of third-party apps like Netflix, Facebook, LinkedIn, and PhonePe. Fortunately, most of these can be uninstalled (but return after a factory reset).

There’s an addition of the customizable Plus Key, replacing OnePlus’s signature Alert Slider. It can launch various shortcuts, including AI features.

Speaking of which, AI Plus Mind (also called Mind Space). It scans your screen, offers contextual suggestions (like adding dates to your calendar), and saves links, images, and content for later. It’s a good start, but not perfect in execution. It can only summarize what’s directly visible on-screen and doesn’t always provide contextual depth or links back to the source, making it feel a bit half-baked for now.

More useful are the AI productivity tools, like AI Call Assistant, AI Translation, and VoiceScribe, which handle real-time transcription, call summaries, and multi-language translation with surprising accuracy.

On the camera side, AI also plays a role, though more subtly. Features like AI Detail Boost, Unblur, and Reflection Eraser are built into the camera and gallery apps, helping users fine-tune their shots or clean up their photos post-capture.

OnePlus is committing to four major Android updates and six years of security patches. A welcome move.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Cameras

The OnePlus Nord 5 camera setup is a significant upgrade over the Nord 4, but in fact, this may be Nord’s strongest showing yet, having said that, it has its highs and lows.

At the heart of the Nord 5’s camera setup is a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-700 sensor, the same one used in the flagship OnePlus 13 and 13R. It’s paired with a fast f/1.8 aperture and OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation), and it shows.

In bright daylight, the phone captures images that are sharp and well-balanced, with a decent amount of detail preservation and natural-looking color science.

There’s a pleasant amount of contrast, less exaggerated than what you’d see on a Samsung Galaxy A-series phone, and textures come through sharp without over-processing. Autofocus is snappy, shutter lag is not noticeable, and there’s a subtle bokeh effect on close-up shots.

Zoom performance is handled via a 2x in-sensor crop that retains almost the same sharpness as the main lens. Push beyond that into the 20x digital zoom range, and image quality understandably begins to fall apart—but for most casual use, the 2x option delivers surprisingly flagship-like results.

Portrait shots from the main camera look pretty good, with decent edge detection, but it sometimes messes up the colors, which can mess up a nice shot. Honestly, I found that the camera’s natural shallow depth of field often looked better. It’s a bummer because the hardware has a lot of potential, but the software isn’t quite up to par yet.

Night mode kicks in automatically and typically takes just over a second to process. The results are bright, sometimes even a touch too bright, but noise is well-controlled and focus remains stable, even with handheld shots.

The 8MP ultra-wide camera, on the other hand, doesn’t match the main sensor’s quality but holds its own. It delivers wide shots with minimal distortion at the edges, and color consistency with the main sensor is decent. Fine details, however, tend to blur toward the corners, and dynamic range drops noticeably. In low light, the ultra-wide lens struggles more, with focus issues and a higher tendency to lose detail in shadowy scenes.

The real dark horse in the Nord 5’s camera setup is its 50MP selfie camera—a Samsung JN5 sensor with autofocus. This front-facing camera performs much better than what better than expected. Whether you’re shooting in daylight or under poor indoor lighting, selfies come out sharp, well-exposed, and color-accurate. Detail retention is excellent, and thankfully, OnePlus doesn’t default to aggressive beautification filters. In low light, a clever trick turns part of the screen into a ring-light-style illuminator, enabling surprisingly usable night-time selfies—perhaps the best in the price class.

Video capture is another area where the Nord 5 punches above its weight. Both the front and rear cameras can shoot at 4K 60fps, which is a rarity at this price point. Footage from the main sensor looks clean, with solid dynamic range and excellent detail, especially in well-lit scenes. Stabilization via OIS and EIS works well enough. Portrait and ultra-steady video modes, while limited to 1080p at 30fps, are still useful in the right context. The front camera also holds its own in video, outperforming rivals like the Poco F7 or iQOO Neo 10R in sharpness and exposure.

Against competitors, the Nord 5 holds firm in some areas and pulls ahead in others. Compared to the Motorola Edge 60 Pro, the Nord delivers better detail retention, superior 2x zoom, and stronger selfie performance. Motorola edges it out in HDR processing and portrait versatility, but Nord’s main sensor is generally more reliable. Versus the Poco F7, both phones offer similar specs on paper, but the Nord’s photo tuning, particularly for skin tones and exposure control, comes out ahead. And while the Pixel 9a still claims the crown for tuning and color fidelity, the Nord 5 closes the gap significantly, especially in low light.

At the end of the day, the OnePlus Nord 5’s camera system is the best we’ve seen from a Nord phone yet.

OnePlus Nord CE5 Review: Battery Life and Charging

The OnePlus Nord 5, in India, packs a 6800mAh battery, which is much bigger than Nord 4 or Moto and iQOO rivals. That said, there’s been a subtle tradeoff this year: charging speed has dropped from 100W on the Nord 4 to 80W SUPERVOOC.

OnePlus Nord 5’s everyday battery performance is excellent. In my 15 days with the phone, I was connected with 5G and Wi-fi connection, while performing my usual activities such as surfing, texting, calling, social media, clicking photos, and light gaming, the Nord 5 consistently delivered over 8 hours of screen-on time.

On lighter days, it lasted almost 2 with juice to spare. In synthetic testing, the Nord 5 clocked 27 hours and 15 minutes in an HD video loop and 14 hours and 15 minutes on the PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark.

When you do need to top up, 80W wired fast charging fills the tank up to 50% in about 20 minutes, and hits a full charge in just 63 minutes.

The phone gets warm during fast charging but never uncomfortably so. It supports USB Power Delivery at 18W and can take advantage of 33W PPS when connected to compatible third-party chargers, which is useful if you’re not using the included brick.

The Nord 5 even supports wired reverse charging at 5W, meaning you can juice up accessories or another phone in a pinch, as long as you’ve got the cable.