OnePlus premieres the super-affordable Nord CE 2

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OnePlus has announced the long-rumoured second version of its budget handset – the Nord CE 2.

The follow up to last year’s Nord CE again offers top-notch value, slotting in at the £299 price point. Again the budget phone has a price-point defying design that’s 7.8mm thick and includes a rounded camera module that’s similar to parent company Oppo’s Find X3 Pro.

Check out the OnePlus Nord CE 2 at OnePlus

The OnePlus Nord CE 2 has a 90 Hz AMOLED display, OxygenOS 11, faster 65W SuperVooc charging and, like the older model, supports 5G, boasts the aforementioned similar slim design and, importantly at this price point, a headphone jack. Unlike the predecessor handset, there’s MediaTek Dimensity 900 hardware inside instead of last year’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G.

The phone will be available in Gray Mirror (below) and Bahama Blue colours and you can pre-order from 3 March with full availability on 10 March.

The phone has the same cameras as last year’s model – 64MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro. Nightscape is supported for low light shots (it takes a bunch of photos at different exposures and combines them) while there’s also an improved portrait mode with better edge detection.

The fast charging is the same as Oppo’s technology – OnePlus no longer rebrands it – and you can juice up the 4,500mAh battery to have full power in 32 minutes. A 15 minute charge should give you enough to last through the day.

The display is the same 6.43-inch size as last year’s model, but it now boasts FHD+ (2220×1080) resolution. On the front of the OnePlus Nord CE 2 is a 6.43 inch FHD+ Fluid AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate that makes everything from scrolling through social media feeds to gaming feel smoother, faster, and more responsive. Now the display is HDR10+ certified, too.

OnePlus says the phones will be forward-compatible with two major Android updates and three years of security updates.

Last year’s OnePlus Nord CE remains one of our favourite budget phones and we’ll have a full review of the new OnePlus Nord CE 2 for you very soon.

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Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.