OnePlus Nord 2 Tipped to Be a Rebadged Realme X9 Pro, With Slight Differences

OnePlus Nord 2 is tipped to be a rebadged Realme X9 Pro that is rumoured to debut alongside the Realme X7. The Realme phone is speculated to have two different variants — one for the Chinese market with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, and the other one for the global markets with MediaTek Dimensity 1200. The OnePlus Nord 2 is expected to be the rebranded version of the latter. However, there could be some differences on the software front as the OnePlus phone is likely to run OxygenOS, while the Realme handset is speculated to have a Realme UI iteration.

A tipster on Weibo has reported that the global variant of the Realme X9 Pro that would be rebranded as the OnePlus Nord 2 will debut as early as next month. The global model may have some differences over its China-only variant. The first and the foremost change is the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC on the global model over the Snapdragon 870 available on its Chinese counterpart. However, the phones are also said to have some changes on the part of their displays.

The Chinese tipster claimed that the China variant of the Realme X9 Pro would come with a curved display, whereas its global version may have a flat screen. Rest of their specifications could be identical.

But nonetheless, OnePlus is likely to bring some minor distinction on its end and introduce the OnePlus Nord 2 with some design-level changes over the Realme X9 Pro. One of those could be a distinctive camera module shape. The OnePlus Nord 2 is said to have an LED flash just at the side of its third rear camera sensor. In contrast, the Realme X9 Pro is speculated to have the LED flash close to its top camera.

The OnePlus Nord 2 may also retain the brand's iconic alert slider that would not be a part of the Realme phone.

Both OnePlus Nord 2 and Realme X9 Pro earlier said to have a 90Hz Super AMOLED display and a triple rear camera setup, and a 50-megapixel primary sensor. The Realme X9 Pro is also believed to share some similarities with the Oppo Reno 6 Pro+ that was launched last month.

It is important to point out that both OnePlus and Realme are subsidiaries of Guangdong-based manufacturer BBK Electronics. This makes it so practical for both brands to opt for rebranding. In the past, OnePlus was alleged to have used the hardware being considered by Oppo for its Reno phones. OnePlus also recently merged its research and development with Oppo, which introduced Realme as its subsidiary originally in 2018 — before spinning it off as a standalone brand.

Is OnePlus 9R old wine in a new bottle — or something more? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Later (starting at 23:00), we talk about the new OnePlus Watch. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.