Surprises

Review: Oneplus Nord CE5 - Really cheap smartphone

There is no doubt that the Nord CE5 from Oneplus is a budget phone, but it surprises by having surprisingly few weaknesses.

Published 10 September 2025 - 10:14

With a price tag of around 3000 kronor at the time of writing, the Oneplus Nord CE5 is one of the cheapest smartphones on the market. I recently tested the sister model, the cheap but still almost twice as expensive Nord 5 and thought it was a good and affordable phone. The Nord CE5 pushes the price even further.

Positive surprise that convinces more and more

When I switch from Nord 5 to this Nord CE5, I immediately notice that the screen is worse and assume that it is an LCD screen instead of the brighter OLED screen in Nord 5. OLED screens generally provide better colour reproduction and black levels, but when I examine the screen further and the phone's specifications, it turns out that my initial assumption is wrong. Despite the Nord CE5 costing around 3000 kronor, it has an OLED screen with good refresh rate and detail. Even though the highest resolution and maximum brightness are a bit lower than in Nord 5, this is still a good screen, especially considering the price tag. I am even more positively surprised when I start testing the cameras. Even here, it is surprisingly close to Nord 5, and the same goes for performance.

If we describe the cameras in a bit more detail, there are two cameras on the back, a main camera with 50 megapixels with a sensor from Sony and a complementary wide-angle at 8 megapixels. So you don't get a telephoto camera with optical zoom, and the cameras show clear shortcomings in low light, but they are still surprisingly good considering the price tag. The 50 megapixels in the main camera mean that you can at least zoom in a bit, 2-3x, without losing too much in quality, and I take many pictures where the result is clearly acceptable. They are not in flagship class as Oneplus claims in its marketing, but they are sufficient for most everyday situations.

Value for money

Of course, I shouldn't just compare this phone with its more expensive sister model, but compared to many other phones in the same price range as the Nord CE 5, Honor 200 Smart for example, the CE5 offers significantly more value for money, and compared to the Nord 5, it is surprisingly equivalent despite almost half the price. The CE5 lacks the special quick button on the side that we find in the sister model, but it's hardly a major disadvantage. In terms of material, the phone has a plastic back and frame, which means it doesn't feel luxurious, but rather durable. Overall, this is a very practical phone, and in terms of performance, it is a phone that simply works. When I use it for everyday scrolling, banking, chat, and email as well as games and other more demanding apps, the interface runs smoothly, and the battery is also generously sized, with support for fast charging.

Questions and Answers

How is the AI availability?

There are some AI editing tools in the phone's photo editor, so you can remove distracting objects and eliminate blur and reflections. Additionally, you have Google's Circle to Search and a direct shortcut to Google Gemini by holding down the start button. Not bad at all.

How does Oneplus change Android with its Oxygen OS interface?

They have a few of their own solutions, such as the widget screen Shelf, their own browser, Zen Space which is meant to help you reduce screen time, and there are some extended settings options and shortcuts. For example, a toolbar with icons you can pull out even when using other apps. Oneplus also pre-installs a number of unnecessary third-party apps, such as Booking.com, Amazon Shopping, and the game Block Blast, which you might not want but can uninstall.

What about the battery, does it last?

It is generous and there is even fast charging support at 80W.

An alternative

The recently launched Samsung Galaxy A17 for just under 3000 kronor could be an option, but I believe even more in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro which is even cheaper, but impressed greatly when we tested it this spring.