OnePlus used to be one of the best brands of Android smartphones that would challenge premium devices with lower prices, powerful specs, and great firmware support. Nowadays, Samsung is the definition of powerful specs and timely software updates, while OnePlus appears to be digging itself into a deeper hole with every release.
OnePlus announced the Nord N20 5G recently. It's a mid-range phone that punches down rather than up, and its main saving grace is the sub-$300 price point. Though, even that's debatable.
In theory, the OnePlus Nord N20 5G essentially competes with the Galaxy A33 5G. In practice, Samsung's low-cost device offers enough advantages to justify the slightly higher price, and it's almost in a different league to the Nord N20 5G.
OnePlus Nord N20 5G vs Galaxy A33 5G: Samsung shows us how it's done
Comparing the OnePlus Nord N20 5G to the Galaxy A33 5G, it doesn't even seem like a fair fight. The OnePlus device has a Snapdragon chipset instead of the Exynos 1280, but this time around, Qualcomm's solution is not as powerful.
The Nord N20 5G has 30W charging instead of 25W, but we wouldn't advise anyone to base their purchase decision on this small difference. And we wouldn't be surprised if Samsung's charging technology performed better anyway. After all, Samsung's 25W is faster even than Google's 30W charging.
As far the exterior design and buid quality, where the Galaxy A33 5G has an IP67 dust and water resistance rating, the Nord N20 5G does not. And where the Galaxy A33 5G has Gorilla Glass 5, OnePlus uses Glass 3.
Finally, OnePlus is launching the Nord N20 5G (a 2022 smartphone) with Android 11 but promises one upgrade to Android 12. The company could stretch that to two major firmware upgrades, but at the end of the day, there's no guarantee that the N20 5G will ever receive Android 13 officially. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A33 5G ships with Android 12, and Samsung will release four major Android OS upgrades throughout its lifetime.
All in all, the OnePlus Nord N20 5G costs a little less than the Galaxy A33 5G, but it's obvious why. It could be an option for customers on a tight budget, but they'd be missing out on better build quality, better specs, better cameras, and more.
Poor firmware support from OnePlus also means that Nord N20 5G customers will probably be forced to abandon their phones sooner than they would the Galaxy A33. And when you're on a budget, it's beter to be safe than sorry. Which is why the OnePlus Nord N20 5G feels like it has already lost this battle.
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