OnePlus Nord CE 6 Hands-On

OnePlus is gearing up to launch the Nord CE 6 and Nord CE 6 Lite in India, following the debut of the Nord 6 earlier this month. The Nord CE series has traditionally played a different role within OnePlus' portfolio. It focuses less on expanding the horizons and more on delivering a balanced, no-frills experience at a competitive price point. With the Nord CE 6, however, OnePlus seems to be narrowing that gap between its CE and the more premium Nord models.

At first glance, the OnePlus Nord CE 6 appears to borrow heavily from the design language introduced with the OnePlus 15 (review). What started as a design shift on the recently introduced Nord 6 (review), with its squarish camera island and large circular rings, has now trickled down to the CE model as well. The camera deco sits in the top-left corner and follows a rounded square island design. It houses the camera rings along with a smaller pill-shaped cutout for the flash.

The module itself has a metallic finish, which contrasts with the rest of the rear panel. It does protrude ever so slightly, but does not cause the phone to wobble.

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 is confirmed to launch in Fresh Blue, Lunar Pearl, and Pitch Black colourways. Our unit is the former, leaning towards a soft, pastel tone rather than an overly saturated shade. The finish on the rear panel is matte and smooth to the touch. We'll test the handset extensively to see whether it can maintain a clean look without attracting fingerprints over the next few weeks.

In terms of ergonomics, the Nord CE 6 features flat edges with slightly rounded corners. Despite its large footprint, the handset is comfortable to hold, and its corners do not dig into your palms. The button placement, meanwhile, is standard. The power and volume buttons are on the right side of the frame, while the bottom houses the USB Type-C port, speaker grille, and SIM tray.

On the front, the OnePlus Nord CE 6 is confirmed to sport a 1.5K resolution display with a 144Hz refresh rate. It has quite slim, symmetrical bezels on all sides, which are on the premium side compared to what we typically see in this segment. We'll take a closer look at its colour accuracy and outdoor visibility after extended use.

Under the hood, the OnePlus Nord CE 6 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset, paired with a dedicated Touch Reflex chip that enables up to 3200Hz touch sampling rate. It runs OxygenOS 16 based on Android 16 out of the box. On paper, the hardware combination indicates it could be capable of handling everyday tasks, multitasking, and gaming with relative ease. Its real-world performance, however, will become clearer once we run our usual benchmark tests and extended usage scenarios.

For optics, the Nord CE 6 features a 50-megapixel primary rear camera with optical image stabilisation, accompanied by a secondary sensor. On the front, it gets a 32-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls. We'll examine image quality and consistency across different lighting conditions in detail after further testing.

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 packs an 8,000mAh battery with support for 80W fast charging, along with reverse wired charging capabilities. This appears to be one of the more notable upgrades not only over its predecessor but also in this segment in general. Battery endurance and charging behaviour will be clearer after prolonged usage.

Initial Thoughts

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 appears more refined and cohesive within the broader Nord family than previous generations. We'll delve deeper into how the handset performs during real-world use in our full review, which drops on May 6. So, stay tuned.