OnePlus Nord 6: Your ultimate guide

The OnePlus Nord 5 was easily one of our favourite mid-range handsets of last year, cramming a ton of great features, including an epic selfie camera that made it fun to document a night out, into a premium-feeling build. We wondered how OnePlus might look to improve things in a successor and now that the OnePlus Nord 6 is official, we’re surprised by some of the changes that have been made.

The key thing to know at this point is that the phone has only been made available in India, and so there’s always a chance that a Western version of the OnePlus Nord 6 might have a few additional changes to go with it. There’s plenty of precedent for this as Western versions of phones like the Honor Magic 8 Pro and the Xiaomi 17 have larger batteries in their Chinese versions.

Although the OnePlus Nord 6 is intended to directly compete with other mid-range phones like the Samsung Galaxy A57 and the Nothing Phone (4a), it’s not the only mid-range device in OnePlus’ wares. For those who are happy to spend a bit more and get an experience that more closely matches the flagship OnePlus 15, the OnePlus 15R is available to buy right now.

Still, the Nord 6 is best suited for those who have a bit more cash than what’s required for the best budget phones, delivering just the right suite of features to appeal to most people. If you’re tempted to know more about the phone, including which new features it brings to the table, how much it costs and when you can buy it, keep reading on.

OnePlus Nord 6: What’s new?

One of the biggest batteries on a phone

Easily the most eye-catching feature above all is the fact that the OnePlus Nord 6 carries a 9000mAh battery. No, that’s not a typo or some kind of marketing jargon, the Nord 6 actually boasts a 9000mAh cell which absolutely destroys the capacity of practically all flagship phones right now. Even the Oppo Find X9 Pro, which we could get to run for up to three days under the right circumstances, has a smaller 7500mAh cell.

Anyone who’s been following the rumour mill for the Nord 6 will know that this isn’t too surprising, given that the phone is mostly a repackaged version of the Chinese exclusive OnePlus Turbo 6.

In terms of what that means for everyday use, OnePlus promises that you can get over two and a half days of use which certainly seems doable, and there’s a quoted use-case of being able to watch up to 26.9 hours of YouTube without a break before the battery reaches 0% (although why anyone would want to watch that much YouTube is beyond us).

As amazing as the idea of a 9000mAh battery is, however, the big caveat is that we don’t yet know if this feature will make its way to a Western version of the Nord 6 (if such a thing exists). Because Western phones typically ship with a smaller battery than their Eastern counterparts, don’t be too surprised if a UK/US-bound Nord 6 had a cell closer to the 7000mAh mark (more on launch details below)

A gamer-ready refresh rate

One of the best features introduced on the OnePlus 15 was the move to having a 165Hz refresh rate, which, as any mobile gamer will tell you, is exactly what you want when playing fast-paced titles. Clearly, OnePlus believes in the feature because it has now seen fit to also embolden the Nord 6 with a 165Hz panel.

The faster refresh rate really comes into its own with FPS titles like Call of Duty Mobile or battle royales like Fortnite, as it just creates a more immersive experience where you feel closely connected to the action onscreen. You don’t need to be a gamer to feel the effects of this boost, however, as even just scrolling through social media is a lot smoother with this feature in tow.

A Snapdragon chipset with “elite performance”

Out of all the features here, the fact that the Nord 6 is getting a new chipset is of no surprise to anyone, but what’s interesting is how OnePlus is choosing to talk about what it can do. Under the hood, you’ll now find the faster Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, the same chipset that can be found in devices like the Nothing Phone (3) and the Poco F7, both of which performed exceptionally well in our testing.

What’s interesting is that the brand is touting the level of power here as being “just like the OnePlus 15”. Of course, there’s no way that the 8s Gen 4 can go toe to toe with the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 CPU, but it will be interesting to see if OnePlus has optimised the Nord 6 in such a way that its performance feels like a major step forward against competing mid-range phones.

One thing that will no doubt help the CPU’s performance is the addition of OnePlus’ G2 Wi-Fi chip, which is also found on the OnePlus 15 and is designed to create a much stronger and faster internet connection that’s ideal for gaming.

Camera upgrades, camera downgrades

As much as we’re enamoured by the large battery, improved frame rate and upgraded chipset, the camera set-up of the OnePlus Nord 6 is far more of a head scratcher. The Nord 5 was no slouch in the camera department, but it was the 50Mp selfie camera that really helped it to stand out, particularly against the Pixel 9a. For the Nord 6, OnePlus has gone in a direction that we can’t really wrap our minds around.

That selfie camera has now been downgraded to a 32Mp sensor, and while the main rear-facing camera has kept its 50Mp quality, OnePlus has shifted to using a Sony LYTIA sensor. The 8Mp ultra-wide camera is seemingly unchanged from last year.

Although the lesser front-facing camera is certainly disappointing, there’s always a chance that OnePlus could plug the gap with more robust computational processing, which is exactly how Pixel phones have consistently put out some of the best photos around despite not having the best hardware. Sony also touts its LYTIA sensor as being more capable when it comes to video quality, so that might be the crux of the trade-off here.

IP66/68/69/69K durability

One thing that we love to see is mid-range phones shipping with more durable builds, as it only increases the value for money that consumers can expect at this end of the market, hopefully allowing phones to last longer. With that in mind, we’re impressed to see that OnePlus has kicked the Nord 6’s durability up a gear, moving on from an official IP65 rating on the Nord 5, to ratings for IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K.

What those certifications boil down to is top-of-the-line protection against dust and water, so if you do accidentally drop the Nord 6 in the bath or in the sink, you won’t have a thing to worry about. 6, but we’ll keep this page updated with all the latest rumours and leaks as they happen.

When is the OnePlus Nord 6 release date?

The OnePlus Nord 6 was officially unveiled on 7 April, before going on general sale 9 April.

Longtime fans of the OnePlus Nord line will have already spotted that this release comes at a much earlier date than what is typically expected. Every other Nord phone, dating back to the series’ debut in 2020, has been unveiled in July of its respective year.

While we don’t know for certain as to what has caused an earlier release for the Nord 6, it does at the very least get the phone to market quicker to compete with other recently launched mid-rangers such as the Google Pixel 10a and the Samsung Galaxy A57.

We’ve reached out to OnePlus to find out and will update this if we hear back. A wider launch does seem somewhat up in the air, though, with rumours of OnePlus pulling out of various markets.

How much does the OnePlus Nord 6 cost?

The OnePlus Nord 6 has a starting price of Rs 38,999 (£313/$421). As the phone is currently available just in India, we only have conversion prices available for a rough estimate, but it is worth noting that this is an increase on what we previously saw, with last year’s OnePlus Nord 5 starting at Rs 29,999.

Although it wasn’t available to buy in the US, the OnePlus Nord 5 did have a starting price of £399 in the UK, so there’s a good chance that the Nord 6 will cost more than that if it does make its way out of India.

OnePlus Nord 6 prices

• 256GB/8GB – Rs 38,999 (£313/$421)
• 256GB/12GB – Rs 41,999 (£337/$453)