To most of the OnePlus ardent fans, the company is but a sliver of its past, offering sub-par budget devices that fail to offer anything that can separate the handset from the offerings of Xiaomi or Realme, two of the country's biggest smartphone players in the mid-range and budget segment.
The company's Nord CE 5G did promise something different, but, upon launch, it turned out to be another device that was decent and could take the fight to the likes of Xiaomi and Realme, but, ultimately, at least on paper, ends up being dominated by iQOO's latest offering, the iQOO Z3 5G.
Now, a leakster has claimed that the Nord 2, which is the upcoming successor of the OnePlus Nord that was launched in 2020 will be a rebrand of Realme's X9 Pro, complete with the same Mediatek Dimesity 1200 chipset. Whilst this is not bad news per se, it does demotivate a OnePlus fan that expects something different from a company that has been a strong entity.
The leak might seem confusing, considering how the Realme X9 Pro make uses of a Snapdragon 870 processor, but, as per the leakster who goes by Arsenal on Weibo, the device will be on offer in two different models, one with a Snapdragon 870 processor and a curved display, with the other model making use of a Dimensity 1200 processor and a 90Hz flat panel.
What Else Do We Know About the Nord 2
This duality does mean that Realme will choose not the launch the Mediatek version in China, as it will be launched as the OnePlus Nord 2 on a global scale. The source has also revealed that the device will launch in July of 2021, similar to what we have been hearing in the last couple of days.
According to a TENAA listing though, the Reale X9 Pro makes use of a 16MP ultrawide-angle camera but, from a prior leak that surfaced earlier this week, it was revealed that the OnePlus Nord 2 will feature an 8MP ultrawide angle camera. Do note that the rest of the sensors will be the same across both devices. Both phones will make use of a 4500mAh battery and support 65W fast charging.
When it comes to the design, the rear panel will be different from the description of the Nord 2. Whilst Realme has opted for a pill-shaped LED flash that is positioned near the top camera, reports suggest that the OnePlus Nord 2 will feature its LED flash at the bottom, close to the third sensor. We can also expect the Nord 2 to future an alert slider, a feature missing from Realme's phones.
If you are into tech, this should be of no surprise, since both companies are owned by BBK Electronics and there is no end in sight for this trend, with Oppo, Vivo and Realme usually sharing certain aspects of their devices.
