OnePlus Nord 4 5G at ₹24,999 — The Phone That Made Me Put Down My Flagship
I need to tell you something slightly embarrassing. I have been using a flagship phone that costs well over ₹60,000 as my daily driver for the past few months. Then the OnePlus Nord 4 5G showed up for review, and for two straight weeks I found myself reaching for it instead of my main phone. Not because of some spec sheet comparison or benchmark numbers. Because it just felt better in the hand. That metal back, that weight, that cool-to-touch aluminium against your palm on a hot Delhi afternoon. There is something about this phone that specs alone cannot capture.
And now it is sitting at ₹24,999 on Amazon India, which is ₹5,000 off the MRP of ₹29,999. For what you get — a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3, a metal unibody that no other 5G phone in India offers, OxygenOS which is still one of the best Android skins out there, and 4 years of OS updates — this is an excellent deal, full stop. Let me explain why.
The Metal Unibody — Why It Actually Matters
Every year at phone launches, I sit through presentations where companies talk about their "premium design" and "carefully crafted aesthetics." And every year, the phone turns out to be yet another glass sandwich with a plastic frame that creaks slightly when you squeeze it. The OnePlus Nord 4 is different. Actually, properly different.
The entire back of this phone is a single piece of aerospace-grade aluminium. Not aluminium painted plastic. Not a metal frame with a glass back. The whole thing. Pick it up and you immediately notice. It is cool to the touch, which is brilliant in Indian summers. You know that feeling when you grab a glass-back phone in May in Hyderabad or Nagpur and it is already warm from sitting on a desk? The Nord 4 stays cooler. It is a small thing, but after two weeks of use, you really start to appreciate it.
The weight distribution is different too. At 199g, it is not the lightest phone around, but the weight feels evenly spread because of how the metal body sits. Glass phones tend to feel a bit top-heavy because of the camera module. The Nord 4 feels balanced. Solid but not brick-like. I used it without a case for the entire review period — something I never do with glass phones because I am terrified of shattering the back — and it picked up a couple of minor scratches on the metal but nothing that bothers me. Try doing that with a glass phone.
The Design Colours
The Mercurial Silver variant is the one I would pick. It has this liquid mercury look that shifts between silver and a slight gold depending on the light. Very very eye-catching. At a cafe in Indiranagar last week, two different people asked me what phone it was. That does not happen with your average mid-ranger. The Obsidian Midnight is more subtle, a dark gunmetal that looks professional and understated. Both are good but the silver is special.
At 7.99mm thickness, this is also a slim phone by current standards. Most phones in this segment are pushing 8.5-9mm, so the Nord 4 actually feels thin in the pocket. No camera bump drama either — the bump is modest and the phone does not rock on a flat table when you are typing.
Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 — Closer to Flagship Than You Think
Here is where the Nord 4 punches way above its price. The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is not a regular mid-range chip. It is essentially a slightly downclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which was the flagship chip from 2023. In practical terms, this means the Nord 4 performs closer to last year's flagships than to current mid-range phones.
Real-world usage. App opening speed — Instagram loads in about 1.2 seconds from cold start. Chrome with 20+ tabs remains responsive. Switching between apps using the recent apps menu is instant with no redrawing. The 8GB LPDDR5X RAM helps here. This is proper fast RAM, not the LPDDR4X you find on some competitors at this price. Files transfer quickly too thanks to UFS 3.1 storage. Installing a 2GB game takes seconds, not minutes.
Gaming Performance
BGMI at Smooth + Extreme runs at a locked 60fps for the most part. I played about 30 matches over two weeks and only noticed drops during the final circle when smoke grenades and multiple players are rendering simultaneously. On HDR + Ultra, you get a mostly stable 40fps which is perfectly playable for casual matches.
Genshin Impact — the real torture test — runs on Medium-High settings at around 45-50fps in open world exploration. Domains and boss fights with lots of particle effects dip it to about 35-40fps. Not flagship-level, but significantly better than what the Snapdragon 695 or Dimensity 7200 phones can manage. For context, those chips struggle to maintain 30fps on the same settings.
Call of Duty Mobile on Very High graphics and Max frame rate is smooth as butter. No issues at all. This chip handles that game easily. I also tried Honkai Star Rail and it ran on Medium at a consistent 40fps, which felt smooth enough for a turn-based game.
Thermals during gaming are well managed thanks to the metal body acting as a natural heat sink. After 30 minutes of Genshin at high settings, the phone was warm but not uncomfortable. Glass phones at this price get noticeably hotter because glass is a poor thermal conductor. The metal back actually serves a functional purpose beyond just looking good.
OxygenOS 14.1 — Software Done Right
I have strong opinions about phone software. MIUI has too many ads. Samsung One UI has too many features crammed in. ColorOS is fine but forgettable. Stock Android is clean but boring. OxygenOS, for me, hits the sweet spot. It is fast. It is clean. It stays out of your way. And it adds just enough useful features without overwhelming you.
The animations in OxygenOS 14.1 are some of the smoothest I have used on any Android phone, including flagships. Opening apps, closing them, switching between them, pulling down the notification shade — everything has this fluid, natural motion that makes the phone feel expensive. It is hard to describe in text but if you have ever used an iPhone and thought "why does Android not feel this smooth," OxygenOS is the closest Android gets.
The Always-On Display options are great. You can customize the clock style, add Spotify now-playing information, and even use Bitmoji characters. The shelf — that side panel you access by swiping from the home screen — has useful widgets for weather, notes, and step counter. Zen Mode is really helpful if you need to put your phone down and focus, it locks you out for a set duration with no way to cheat.
Software Updates Promise
OnePlus promises 4 major Android updates and 6 years of security patches. This means the Nord 4, which launched with Android 14, will get Android 15, 16, 17, and 18. That is matching Samsung and actually beating Xiaomi and Realme who offer 3 years of OS updates on their mid-range phones. For a phone at ₹24,999, getting software support until 2030 is no joke. Your phone will be physically worn out before it becomes software-obsolete.
I also want to mention that OxygenOS gets feature drops. OnePlus has been adding new features through quarterly updates — new camera modes, new always-on display designs, AI features. You are not buying a static software experience. It keeps getting better over time.
The Camera — Honest Assessment
The 50MP Sony LYT-600 main sensor with OIS. Let me be straightforward with you. This is a good camera. Not great, not mind-blowing, but solidly good. For ₹24,999, that is perfectly acceptable.
Daylight Shots
In good light, the Nord 4 takes sharp, well-exposed photos with natural colours. OnePlus has moved away from the oversaturated look they used to have, and the default colour science now leans slightly warm but realistic. Street photography in places like Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, the Saturday flea market at Bandra — the camera captures the chaos and the colours faithfully. Dynamic range is good, meaning if you are shooting something with both bright sky and dark shadows, neither gets blown out completely.
The 50MP full-resolution mode gives you extra detail for cropping, and the 2x digital zoom is surprisingly usable thanks to the high-resolution sensor. I used it for shooting food photos for my Instagram — close-up shots of street food at VV Puram in Bangalore, a thali at a dhaba on NH48 — and the detail was impressive enough that people in my DMs asked if I was using a flagship phone.
Night Photography
Night mode on the Nord 4 takes 2-3 seconds per shot and the results are above average for this price. OIS helps keep things steady, and the noise reduction is applied judiciously — you still get some grain in extreme low light but it does not turn everything into an oil painting like some aggressive processing tends to do. Shooting at places like Marine Drive at night, the bokeh from street lights looks natural and the overall exposure is balanced.
The 8MP ultrawide is adequate. It works best in daylight and struggles a bit at night, which is expected. No telephoto lens, so if you are someone who does a lot of zoom photography — shooting birds, or your kid's sports day from the stands — this is not the phone for you. The 16MP selfie camera is decent for video calls and the occasional selfie, but nothing extraordinary.
Video Recording
4K at 30fps from the main camera is sharp and stable. OIS does a good job smoothing out hand tremors. 1080p at 60fps is where the phone shines for video — the higher frame rate gives you buttery smooth footage that looks great on social media. There is also a decent slow-motion mode at 1080p 120fps for those fun Reels and Shorts moments.
Display — Big, Bright, Beautiful
The 6.74-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel is one of the larger displays in this segment and it is a proper good one. 120Hz refresh rate, 2150 nits peak brightness, excellent colour accuracy out of the box. Watching IPL matches on Hotstar — which I may have done during a couple of "work from home" days — was a joy. The large screen and vivid AMOLED colours make the action feel immersive.
The Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection is reassuring. This is the same glass protection you find on phones costing twice as much. Between the metal back that does not shatter and the Victus 2 front, the Nord 4 is legitimately one of the more durable phones you can buy without adding a bulky case.
One thing I appreciate is the display calibration. Out of the box, the "Natural" profile gives you accurate, sRGB colours which is great for photography and content creation. The "Vivid" profile pumps up the saturation for people who prefer that look. Most phones at this price only offer a too-vivid default with no way to tone it down, so having this option is nice.
Battery and 100W SUPERVOOC
5500mAh is a big battery by any standard. In my daily usage — which involves a lot of social media, some gaming, YouTube, music streaming through Spotify, and the occasional navigation on Google Maps through Bangalore traffic which is basically a lifestyle at this point — I consistently ended the day with 25-35% battery remaining. On lighter days, I have gone into the second morning without charging. That is excellent endurance.
100W SUPERVOOC charging takes the 5500mAh cell from 0 to 100 in about 28 minutes. It is not the absolute fastest in this segment — the POCO X7 Pro does it in about 20 minutes — but 28 minutes is fast enough that it barely matters. Pop it on the charger while you shower and get dressed in the morning, and you are done. The charger is included in the box, full 100W brick and cable, no separate purchase nonsense.
One quirk worth mentioning. The metal back means wireless charging is not supported. Wireless charging needs a glass or plastic back for the coils to work through, and the metal body blocks the signal. If wireless charging is something you use daily — maybe you have a charging pad on your desk at work or on your nightstand — this is a real consideration. For most people in India who still primarily use wired charging, it will not matter at all.
The Amazon Deal — Full Breakdown
Let me lay out exactly what you can get and how to maximize your savings on this ₹24,999 Amazon deal.
- HDFC Bank credit card: ₹2,000 instant discount, bringing your price to ₹22,999. This is probably the best bank offer here.
- SBI debit card: ₹1,500 off, so ₹23,499 effective price.
- Exchange offer: Up to ₹14,000 for eligible phones. Realistically, if you are trading in a OnePlus Nord 2 or Nord CE 3, expect around ₹8,000-10,000. Amazon gives an additional ₹1,000 bonus on OnePlus device exchanges, which is a nice touch.
- No-cost EMI: Available for 3, 6, and 9 months on major bank cards. At 9 months with HDFC, you are paying roughly ₹2,555/month with no interest. Very doable for most working professionals.
- Amazon Pay Later: If you have this activated, you can split the payment into 3 months with no extra charges.
Here is my pro tip. If you combine the HDFC card offer with a good exchange value and Amazon Pay cashback, you could land this phone for around ₹12,000-14,000 effective cost. For a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 phone with a metal body and 4 years of updates, that is unreal. During Navratri and Dussehra sales later this year, the price might drop further, but the bank offers tend to be less generous during regular sale events compared to what is available right now.
How It Stacks Up Against the Competition
The ₹25,000 segment is fiercely competitive in India right now. The Redmi Note 14 Pro+ at ₹21,499 gives you a better camera and IP68 water resistance for less money, but the software experience and long-term updates are weaker. The Samsung Galaxy A55 at around ₹23,999 on sale gets you Samsung's after-sales network and IP67 rating, but the Exynos 1480 chip is noticeably slower than the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. The Realme 13 Pro+ at ₹24,999 has a competitive camera but the software and update commitment lag behind OnePlus.
Where the Nord 4 wins — and this is what convinced me after two weeks of use — is in the total package experience. The software is better than everyone except maybe Samsung. The build quality is in a league of its own at this price. The performance is best-in-class thanks to that Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. And the update promise means you are buying a phone that will still feel current in 2027-2028. If you care about the day-to-day experience of using a phone rather than winning spec sheet comparisons, the Nord 4 at ₹24,999 is the one to get.
Who Is This Phone For?
Someone who has used a OnePlus before and loved OxygenOS. Someone who is tired of phones that all look the same and wants something that actually stands out. Working professionals in cities like Pune, Gurgaon, or Bangalore who want a phone that works well, looks professional in meetings, and does not need babysitting. Basically anyone who values build quality and software experience over having the highest megapixel count or the flashiest marketing gimmick. At ₹24,999, the OnePlus Nord 4 5G is that rare mid-range phone that actually feels like it respects the person buying it.
