The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite will be sold in the US as the OnePlus Nord N30

A couple of days ago, OnePlus announced the Nord CE 3 Lite mid-ranger. It is undoubtedly an interesting device, with a 108MP main camera and a 5,000mAh battery with support for 67W fast charging.

If those hero specs sound intriguing to you and you’re in the US, here’s something interesting a user discovered on the OnePlus forums. It turns out that the company is preparing to offer the Nord CE 3 Lite in the US, rebranded only as the OnePlus Nord N30.

That would make it the successor to the North N20 from April of last year, so the timing definitely fits. Compared to that model, the screen is larger and refreshes at 120Hz vs 60Hz but it’s LCD rather than AMOLED. The main camera is as high-res as to be expected, and the fingerprint sensor is offset to the side, embedded in the power button, from its location below the display in the 2022 model. Otherwise, the two are very comparable.

If you’re wondering how the aforementioned user on the OnePlus forums figured this out, it all has to do with an archive containing software build feature files that indicate the software properties of the Nord CE 3 Lite. These properties include the project ID (an internal reference to the device), the default device name as can be seen in Settings > Device Information, and indications of the target market for the specific build.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the device is called OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite in Indian market and OnePlus Nord N30 in US market. The fact that all files have the same project ID confirms that it is indeed the same device with two names. It will also not only be available in the US from OnePlus itself, but also from T-Mobile. There is also an FCC ID for the Nord N30 hidden in the software further confirming the whole scenario.

As you may know, this is hardly the first time a phone maker has resorted to such rebranding scams – Xiaomi and its sub-brands do it pretty much every week! What remains to be seen is exactly when the Nord N30 will land in the US and at what price. We will let you know when we know more.