There is a clear trajectory. OnePlus’ first Nord ‘CE’ phone arrived in 2021, and was priced at around ₹22,999. The first Nord ‘CE Lite’ phone arrives almost a year later ₹19,999. Fast forward to now, and two things stand out. First of all, the launch windows of the OnePlus Nord CE6 and OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite are at their narrowest point, rather than months apart, which simplifies the choice for consumers. Secondly, the price of both the phones has increased to different levels, where the challenge is to deliver a more capable spec sheet and a better experience. On the second point, OnePlus has maintained a substantial gap between the two offerings, and this is also the reason for the pricing difference.
Here’s how the pricing works out. The Nord CE6, with two specifications and three color options, has a lot to offer ₹₹29,999 (8GB+128GB) and ₹₹32,999 (8GB+256GB). Nord CE6 Lite gets its anchors ₹₹20,999 (6GB+128GB), ₹₹22,999 (8GB+128GB) and ₹₹25,999 (8GB+256GB). As I mentioned earlier, the risk of overlap has been largely avoided. Especially for the Nord CE6 Lite, OnePlus managed to stick to the same entry price point for all its previous versions, but psychologically, that has now changed. it now sits right up ₹20,000 and it will be treated slightly differently.
It is this price difference that defines the choice of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 in the Nord CE6 and the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 in the Nord CE6 Lite. These are not direct competitors, the Snapdragon has a distinct performance as well as gaming experience advantage and higher memory bandwidth which should be useful when multi-tasking. The Dimensity 7400 will offer a notch better efficiency and hence longer intervals between charges, and fairly stable performance for the specific audience that will be buying a mid-range Android phone.
If you choose wisely based on specific usage patterns, as you should, both the Nord CE6 and Nord CE6 Lite do very well in terms of stability and smoothness. I was particularly impressed with the thermals of the Nord CE6 Lite, as it’s easy to stress a chip with a slightly lower capacity. There will be the occasional momentary hesitation, especially when half a dozen apps are open at the same time, but OxygenOS is more than optimized for making this hardware combination work, keeping things smooth and clutter-free. The Nord CE6 Lite plays in a more price sensitive segment, and hence it is difficult to give any precise recommendations. But, try to get the 8GB memory variant for better performance headroom.
In contrast, the Nord CE6’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 is a bit more responsive than expected, even under app load (I say slightly, because real-world usage is below average). Plus, it’s definitely faster when opening or switching apps when there’s no extra load on resources in the background. Since both variants of the Nord CE6 have the same amount of memory, it is clearly recommended to go for the higher storage variant if the budget allows.
From the front, both the OnePlus Nord CE6 and Nord CE6 Lite may look similar, especially with the flat slab edges, unless you notice the slight display size difference (though, unlikely to the human eye). OnePlus has made a lot of difference at the back, with the Nord CE6 having a square camera island, while the Nord CE6 comes with a vertical layout. I would recommend a blue color between Lunar Pearl and Black for the Nord CE6. The Nord CE6 definitely feels premium to hold, and is very well balanced too.
As far as the 50-megapixel main wide camera paired with an auxiliary lens is concerned, both the phones have similarity. It’s safe to say that unless some future updates refine it, the photography performance of the Nord CE6 and Nord CE6 Lite is acceptable at best. The photos are fine in terms of capturing the feel of the moment and place, but dynamic range, clarity and color richness all need some work. Complex lighting often makes this camera fail in terms of exposure or noise. Overloading AI image tweaking features cannot compensate for the baseline performance that still needs to be achieved.
Battery life is one where there are no complaints. The Nord CE6 has a massive 8,000mAh battery, which is the largest in this price band, if I’m not mistaken. You’re looking at a fully charged Nord CE6 at 8am, which holds about 50% charge by 8pm despite heavy use as a primary phone, which for this review will also include some camera use. That’s a good 7.5 hours of screen usage time. The Nord CE6 Lite packs a 7000mAh battery, which returns a little over 6.5 hours of battery usage from 100% to 50%. When used properly, these can easily last for up to two days.