The goal of the OnePlus Nord is to be the mid-range phone that users will continue to talk about being the benchmark even after several years.
OnePlus has always been known to be the flagship killer until April of this year. After their launch event, the company has fully transitioned into a full-fledged flagship phone company. As a result, many of its followers felt alienated. Fortunately, the company will attempt to regain them back with the OnePlus Nord.
The launch of the new OnePlus mid-range phone will be done in a unique YouTube series format. The first video dropped on July 4, which gave a quick glimpse of what the OnePlus Nord will look like.
The goal of the OnePlus Nord
Ewan Spence of Forbes was able to interview Tuomas Lampen who is the OnePlus Head of Strategy in Europe. The focus of the discussion was about the OnePlus Nord. Throughout the interview, Lampen referred to the OnePlus Nord as a ‘product line’.
This phrase could mean that OnePlus is planning to launch a series of mid-range phones under the Nord label. If not, they could be planning a whole set of ecosystems surrounding the OnePlus Nord as suggested by Dave Lee.
Lampen used to work for Nokia and Microsoft, but he found his eventual work family with OnePlus. When asked what the long term goal for the OnePlus Nord is, Lampen said,
“Success would be if, in a few years, people go ‘do you remember Nord, the first great mid-range 5G phone?’.”
Customer feedback learning
OnePlus started out its journey as a strong flagship killer because it listened to its users. The Shenzhen-based company designed its main OnePlus phone based on consumer feedback. As such, they were able to easily win new users’ hearts. According to Lampen, the company is going back to its roots. He said,
“I FEEL WE’RE DOING THAT AGAIN… WHEN WE ASKED THEM WHAT THE PAIN POINTS WERE IN A MID-RANGE HANDSET, THE ANSWERS WENT FROM BATTERY LIFE AND SPEED, THROUGH STORAGE SPACE, TO THE CAMERAS AND THE OVERALL QUALITY.”
Lampen promises that the Nord will deliver a signature smooth OnePlus experience. Anything short of that will go against the history of the company. Also, it will have a flagship-level camera as it is the second most used feature on a phone after a beautiful display screen.
The OnePlus Nord will launch on July 10, but its preorders have already opened last July 1. The phone will initially be available in India and Europe first. Eventually, North America and Canada will have its own limited release.
Image from Marques Brownlee/ YouTube screenshot