OnePlus Nord N30 SE 5G presented as new Premium Design Android smartphone with budget specs

With remarkable timing, OnePlus has just made its first Nord-series smartphone of 2024 official. The N30 SE has thus beaten the rumored Ace 3V rebrand onto the market, as we predicted based on previous leaks. Then again, we should perhaps have seen it coming even sooner, as the same smartphone has surfaced before – sort of.

Going by its looks alone, the N30’s new SE variant is clearly also a re-badging of the OPPO A79 5G currently available on the Indian market. It is still touted as delivering “Luxe Looks” at a “Lighter Cost” with “Feather Design” Mystery Black or Glowing Green colorways re-purposed as OnePlus “Premium Design” Cyan Sparkle or Black Satin finish options.

It is still touted as having a “color-drenched” 6.72-inch FHD+ 90Hz Sunlight Display kept on with a “large” (although the 12R would have more to say about that) 5,000mAh/33W SuperVOOC battery and one of OPPO’s OnePlus’ “300% Ultra Volume Mode” dual speaker set-ups, with a headphone jack thrown in for more traditional Nord-series fun.

On that note, that “all you need” ethic seems cut back further in 2024, as no microSD card support is mentioned for the N30 SE thus far, even though the A79 has the feature. Nevertheless, both smartphones still pack the MediaTek Dimensity 6020 for the aforementioned 5G, at least.

The Nord N30 SE has been unveiled via a global English-language OnePlus web-page, albeit without pricing or an Amazon.com presence thus far. It has, however, been released to the UAE via Noon.com for 599 AED (~$163) with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, whereas the OPPO A79 5G is currently available on Amazon.in with 8GB of RAM for INR 19,999 (~$240).

I became a professional writer and editor shortly after graduation. My degrees are in biomedical sciences; however, they led to some experience in the biotech area, which convinced me of its potential to revolutionize our health, environment and lives in general. This developed into an all-consuming interest in more aspects of tech over time: I can never write enough on the latest electronics, gadgets and innovations. My other interests include imaging, astronomy, and streaming all the things. Oh, and coffee.