OnePlus Nord CE 5 vs Nothing Phone 3a: Camera, battery, price, design; which budget premium smartphone delivers better value?

Smartphone maker OnePlus on Tuesday announced two new additions to its Nord series: the Nord 5 and the Nord CE 5. While the premium Nord 5 is already available for purchase starting Wednesday, the more affordable Nord CE 5 will go on sale from July 12. The decision to launch the higher-end model ahead of its budget sibling has raised eyebrows, but before you decide which one to buy, here's how OnePlus’ latest budget-premium offering compares with a key rival: Nothing’s Phone 3a. Interestingly, Nothing is the brainchild of Carl Pei, who co-founded OnePlus in 2013 with Pete Lau before parting ways in 2020.

First things first, pricing. The Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro were released in March this year, with the 3a launched at a price tag of ₹24,999 available on Flipkart. Meanwhile, the Nord CE 5 will launch at ₹26,999 on Amazon.

When it comes to the physicality of the devices, the Nord CE 5 is 2g lighter than Pei’s Phone 3a. The OnePlus is also thinner by 0.2 mm than the 3a and comes with IP65 dust tight and water resistant (low pressure water jets) in comparison to the IP64 rating for 3a. The display and resolution are almost identical, with exact same size of 6.77 inches that both share. Both offer Android 15 platform but, the difference starts with the chipset. OnePlus Nord CE 5 is equipped with the recently launched Mediatek Dimensity 8350 Apex (4 nm) against the Nothing’s Qualcomm SM7635 Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4 nm). Industry standards and reports suggest that the latter is faster and offers an improved performance to users.

However, the Nord CE 5 has a separate memory card slot for a microSDXC that Nothing’s 3a does not offer. As a Nothing user, I did not like giving up my SD card, that I had used during my Samsung days, offering me additional space.

The two phones come with distinct camera setups offering distinct capabilities. Starting with the main cameras, the Nord CE 5 features a 50 MP sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, 26mm focal length, and a sensor size of 1/1.95" with 0.8µm pixels. It supports PDAF and OIS for stability and fast focusing. In contrast, Nothing Phone 3a also uses a 50 MP main sensor but improves upon it with a larger 1/1.57" sensor, wider 1.0µm pixels, and a slightly narrower f/1.9 aperture at 24mm. More importantly, it includes dual pixel PDAF, which offers quicker and more reliable autofocus, especially in low-light or motion-heavy scenes. The larger sensor and pixel size give Phone 3a an advantage in image quality and light sensitivity.

Both setups offer optical image stabilisation on the main camera, helping to reduce blur from hand movements. Overall, while OnePlus Nord CE 5 is capable and should perform well in most day-to-day scenarios, the Phone 3a offers greater flexibility and stronger hardware, especially for users who value higher-quality photography across different focal lengths.

The Nord CE 5 is, however, offering better video capabilities with the capacity to shoot 4K@30/60fps with Nothing only capable of offering 4K@30fps. Yet, the selfie camera is better for Nothing Phone 3a. The Nord CE 5 comes with just a 16 MP when the lesser-expensive 3a offers 32 MP.

Yet, the Nord CE 5 comes with a 7100 mAh battery pack with 80W fast charging, while the Phone 3a comes with a 5000 mAh battery and with just 50W wired charging.

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 is available in more visually appealing colour options including Marble Mist, Black Infinity, and Nexus Blue, compared to the more basic Black, White, and Blue variants offered by the Phone 3a.