OnePlus Nord 5 review

Unbox the Nord 5, and the first thing that strikes you is its heft. This is no waif-like wonder; at 211g, it’s a substantial slab of polycarbonate which feels astonishingly like metal and glass to the untrained eye. It feels premium, solid, and reassuringly expensive in your hand. I’ve been wafting around with the Marble Sands finish, and it’s a proper looker. The back has a soft, velvety texture that shimmers as it catches the light, making it a crime to slap a case on it.
OnePlus has clearly been paying attention to the little details. The bezels are not just minimal; they are gloriously symmetrical. At a mere 1.65mm all around, they’re even more slender than those on the flagship OnePlus 13s, which sported a slightly thicker chin. It’s a small thing, but it gives the front of the phone a clean, balanced look that’s a joy to behold.
The 6.83-inch flat display is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, and the whole package is IP65-rated for water and dust resistance, so it should survive a splash or two. This is a big phone, make no mistake, but the smoothed edges make it surprisingly comfortable to hold, whether you’re doom-scrolling through your socials or locked in a horizontal gaming marathon.

If the Nord 5’s design is the fancy tuxedo, then its display is the crisp, perfectly tailored shirt underneath. For the first time on any OnePlus device, we’re being treated to a 144Hz Swift OLED panel. And my word, is it smooth. Everything from scrolling through your social feeds to slicing up fruit like a digital ninja feels utterly seamless. At 6.83 inches, it's a generous canvas, and with a pin-sharp 1.5K resolution (2800 x 1272), everything looks incredibly crisp and detailed. The large display means anything you watch is super-sized. Netflix movies are fun, with plenty of colours popping without looking unnatural. Enemies in BGMI are easier to spot, and there’s more room for your grubby thumbs to interact with the on-screen touch controls.
In all honesty, I don’t see the point of a 144Hz display because no game can push the frame rate that far on mobile and the ones that do are barely a handful. Even if you manage to find a game that supports 144Hz, you might have to scale down the graphics because this is a budget GPU. I would opt for a newer processor with 120 FPS.
It’s not just a pretty face, either. This screen is properly bright, capable of hitting 1400 nits in high brightness mode, which means you’ll have no trouble seeing what’s what, even under the glare of the summer sun. As a gamer, I also appreciate the ludicrously quick 3000Hz touch response, giving a slight edge when every millisecond counts. 
But it’s the thoughtful extras that really seal the deal. The screen features Aqua Touch 2.0, an ingenious bit of tech that ensures the display remains responsive even if your fingers are wet, perfect for replying to a message in a typical Mumbai downpour. It’s a shame that the Nord 5 is not IP68 or 69 rated. It’s merely IP65, which means you can’t really use this phone in the shower or the rain.
Oh, and it’s part of OnePlus’ Project Starlight, which will guarantee a free replacement for your display if you ever face a greenline issue. You can read more about Project Starlight here in detail.

Under the bonnet, the Nord 5 is powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. Now, some might sniff at this, pointing out that rivals like the Poco F7 and iQOO Neo 10 are rocking the newer Snapdragon 8s Gen 4. But in the real world, the Nord 5 rarely breaks a sweat. It’s snappy, responsive, and handles daily tasks with the kind of breezy indifference you’d expect from a OnePlus.
Gaming is where the Nord 5 really flexes its muscles. I put it through its paces with a few rounds of BGMI at the highest settings, and it maintained a rock-solid 40fps. Even a graphically demanding title like Grid Legends chugged along at a steady 30fps. You can see the Adreno 735 GPU using some clever upscaling to keep things smooth, but for a phone in this price bracket, it’s mightily impressive.
A big part of this consistent performance is the frankly enormous 7,300mm² vapour chamber cooling system. While gaming, the phone barely got warm to the touch. It’s clear that OnePlus has put a lot of effort into thermal management, and it pays off in spades. This isn't just about raw power; it's about sustained, cool-headed performance.

The camera setup on the Nord 5 is a bit of a mixed bag. The 50MP front-facing camera is, without a doubt, one of the best you’ll find on a mid-ranger. It produces beautifully detailed selfies with natural skin tones and excellent exposure control, easily outclassing the 20MP snapper on the Poco F7.

Around the back, you’ll find a 50MP Sony LYT-700 main sensor, the same one found in the flagship OnePlus 13 series, and an 8MP ultrawide lens. The main camera is a capable performer, delivering crisp, vibrant shots in good light.

The 8MP ultrawide is also surprisingly decent, producing shots with well-controlled highlights and natural-looking colours. It holds its own against the Poco F7, with the Poco occasionally pushing the saturation a tad too far.

Where things get a bit wobbly is with the portrait mode. It’s strangely inconsistent, often adding an unnecessary layer of saturation that can ruin an otherwise good shot. In many cases, I found that the main camera’s natural shallow depth of field produced more pleasing results. It’s a shame, as the hardware is clearly capable, but the software just isn’t quite there yet. Both the front and rear cameras can shoot 4K video at 60fps, which is a nice touch for aspiring vloggers.

Lowlight is done much better than the Nord 4. It’s astonishing how good the camera quality has gotten for budget smartphones in the last five years. To wrap it up, if you’re pointing the Nord 5 in any direction, you’re sure to get stunning shots from it, barring the portrait mode.

The Nord 5 is packing a hefty 6,800mAh battery, which, while not as capacious as the 7,550mAh cell in the Poco F7, is more than enough to see you through a full day of heavy use. OnePlus has always been good at battery optimisation, and the Nord 5 is no exception. Unless you’re planning on a non-stop gaming marathon, you’ll have no trouble making it to bedtime with juice to spare. When you do need to top up, the 80W SUPERVOOC charging will get you from 1% to 100% in just 54 minutes.
Perhaps the Nord 5’s biggest trump card is its software. OxygenOS is a clean, bloat-free take on Android 15 that is a world away from the ad-riddled interfaces of its rivals from Poco and iQOO. There’s no third-party app to uninstall, no annoying notifications pestering you to buy themes. It’s just a clean, fast, and intuitive user experience.
OnePlus has also baked in some clever AI features. The Plus Key, inherited from the OnePlus 13s, gives you instant access to ‘Mind Space’, a central hub for all your saved content. There's also AI Search, which lets you search your phone using natural language. While the Plus Key wasn’t active on our review unit, it will be available at launch. The Nord 5 also plays nicely with other devices, allowing you to seamlessly transfer files and view your phone’s contents on a Windows PC or Mac.

The OnePlus Nord 5 is a seriously impressive bit of kit. It’s a phone that punches well above its weight, offering a premium design, stonking performance, and a clean, user-friendly software experience. The selfie camera is fantastic, and the main camera is more than capable, even if the portrait mode is a bit hit-and-miss.
Sure, the processor isn’t the very latest and greatest, and the GPU has to work a little harder than some of its rivals. But the Nord 5 is a shining example of how a well-optimised package can be more than the sum of its parts. If you’re in the market for a mid-range phone that feels like a flagship, the OnePlus Nord 5 should be at the very top of your list. It's a proper belter.