OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: How Do These Android Phones Compare?
The OnePlus Nord 4 offers a more premium, durable design than the CE 4 Lite, as well as a more powerful chipset and a better display. However, it does cost a fair bit more.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite performs well in terms of price, software, and battery, but the more expensive Nord 4 outperforms it in almost every other area.
OnePlus has a habit of releasing multiple phones with the same name each year, so it’s no wonder you can’t remember which models fall into which price range.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite, released in July 2024, is a contender for a spot in our guide to the best budget phones, while the more expensive OnePlus Nord 4 can be considered one of the best Android phones for a mid-range budget.
We’ve tested both devices extensively (see our OnePlus Nord 4 review and OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite review for our full verdict), but in this guide we’ve compared the two phones head to head, each with its own specs.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Specs
Here are the key specifications of the OnePlus Nord 4 and OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite:
| OnePlus Nord 4 | OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions: | 162.6 x 75 x 8 mm | 162.9 x 75.6 x 8.1 mm |
| Weight: | 199.5 grams | 191 grams |
| Screen: | 6.74-inch 20:9 FHD (1240 x 2772) 120Hz AMOLED display | 6.67-inch 20:9 FHD (1080 x 2400) 120Hz AMOLED display |
| Chipset: | Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 | Snapdragon 695 |
| RAM: | 12GB / 16GB | 8GB |
| Storage: | 256 GB / 512 GB | 256GB |
| Operating system: | Android 14, OxygenOS 14.1 | Android 14, OxygenOS 14.1 |
| Rear cameras: | 50MP, f/1.8 + 8MP f/2.2 112 degrees | 50 MP, f/1.8 + 2 MP f/2.4 |
| Front camera: | 16 MP, f/2.0 | 16 MP, f/2.4 |
| Sound: | Stereo speakers | Stereo speakers, 3.5mm jack |
| Battery: | 5,500 mAh | 5,110 mAh |
| To upload: | 100W wired | 80W wired |
| To colour: | Obsidian Midnight, Mercury Silver, Oasis Green | Super Silver, Mega Blue |
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Price and Availability
Of the two phones, the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite is cheaper; in most regions, it’s currently OnePlus’ cheapest offering. It’s also worth noting, however, that at the time of writing, those ‘regions’ don’t include Australia or the US.
The Nord CE 4 Lite costs £299 (around $380, AU$580). There’s only one version (8GB / 256GB), so you don’t need to worry about storage or RAM options.
The Nord 4 has a higher starting price of £429 (around $550, AU$820), and that’s just for the base 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage configuration. For £529 (around $680, AU$1,000) you can step that up to 16GB and 512GB respectively.
So there’s no doubt about it: the CE 4 Lite is definitely the cheaper phone, while the Nord 4 is the more premium option.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Design
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Both OnePlus phones use a similar chocolate-bar-style Android design with flat bezels, and the two main points of differentiation between the two are the camera bump orientation (vertical on the CE 4 Lite, horizontal on the Nord 4) and the color options. The Nord 4 also has a two-tone back panel, while the CE 4 Lite has a single color across the entire rear panel.
Those colors are silver, black, and green for the OnePlus Nord 4, and silver or blue for its cousin.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite is the bigger phone, but by such a small margin that it’s barely noticeable. It measures 162.9 x 75.6 x 8.1mm, while the Nord 4 is 162.6 x 75 x 8mm, and the CE is even 8.5 lighter, at 191g.
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Part of that lighter weight is likely down to the materials: the CE 4 Lite has a plastic frame and body, which are well-protected against impacts but don’t feel as premium in the hand. With its metal body and frame, the Nord 4 feels a lot more “special.”
The Nord 4 is better protected against dust and water. Its IP65 rating makes it more resistant to fine particles and liquids, compared to the IP54 rating of the CE 4 Lite.
Both phones have their volume rockers and power buttons on the right side, and their USB-C port along the bottom edge. On the CE 4 Lite, that port is joined by a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is missing from the Nord 4. That phone does, however, have an alert slider at the very top of its left edge, which the Lite lacks.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Display
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The OnePlus Nord 4 wins the display race hands down, with a larger and higher-resolution display. It has a 6.74-inch display with a 2.5K resolution (1240 x 2772 pixels), which is better than the Nord CE 4 Lite’s 6.67-inch display with FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels).
Both phones have AMOLED displays, but the Nord 4 has what OnePlus calls Fluid AMOLED, which looked more vibrant and colorful to me.
The two phones do have a few things in common, though: they both offer a 120Hz refresh rate, similar peak brightness levels, and cutouts for their respective front-facing cameras. They also both use Aqua Touch, a display feature that makes their respective displays respond to your touch even when your fingers are wet.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Software
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In terms of software, both phones come with the same features out of the box; there are no meaningful differences between the two on a functional level. Both the OnePlus Nord 4 and Nord CE 4 Lite come with Android 14 pre-installed, with the company’s OxygenOS 14.1 running on top.
The Nord 4 does have one small advantage over its cousin, though: you get at least four years of software updates, while OnePlus has only promised two years of updates for the Nord CE 4 Lite.
OxygenOS has a distinctive look and feel with its own font and color scheme. I love how all the icons are clear at a glance.
That said, I did notice that both Nord phones come with a fair amount of bloatware, or pre-installed apps, which I spent some time uninstalling when I first turned them on.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Cameras
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If you’re a big fan of smartphone photography, you probably wouldn’t consider these OnePlus Nord phones. But the Nord 4 still performs slightly better than the CE 4 Lite.
Both phones have the same 50MP main camera, but while the CE 4 Lite only has a 2MP depth sensor as backup, the Nord 4 also has an 8MP ultra-wide lens, allowing you to take photos with a wider field of view.
On the front, both phones feature the same 16MP camera, and both options delivered similar results in my tests.
One advantage of the Nord 4 is that it has a more intelligent processor. I also found that the AI scene optimization technology did a better job of identifying and automatically adjusting certain scenes.
Additionally, you get the usual camera features: panorama, slow motion video, time-lapse, portrait mode, and so on.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Performance
The OnePlus Nord 4 offers a lot more processing power, but the Nord CE 4 Lite has the edge in the audio department.
In terms of performance, the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite features the Snapdragon 695 chipset, while the Nord 4 has the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. Qualcomm’s 7-series chips are generally better than its 6-series chips, and the performance of these two phones confirms that sentiment. Benchmark tests suggest that the Nord 4 is around 33% more powerful than the CE 4 Lite.
When playing games on the Nord 4 and Nord CE 4 Lite you will notice this difference: the CE 4 Lite occasionally stutters, has delays or lags a bit behind in online games.
That rating makes sense when you look at the two phones’ respective RAM credentials. The CE 4 Lite gets 8GB, while the Nord 4 gets 12GB or 16GB. In terms of storage, the Lite’s 128GB is also less than the Nord 4’s 256GB or 512GB.
It’s in the audio department that the Nord CE 4 Lite has one advantage over its cousin: it has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Fans of wired audio can use this phone, and not the Nord 4, to connect to headphones or a speaker.
Other audio options include the phone’s stereo speakers (neither set is special), the accompanying USB-C ports if you have an adapter, or streaming over Bluetooth.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Battery Life
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People interested in mid-range and budget phones know what to expect from this phone: the two Nords both have a huge battery that easily lasts a day.
The Nord CE 4 Lite packs a 5,110mAh power pack, while the Nord 4 gets even more juice thanks to its 5,500mAh battery. Given the latter’s larger screen and more powerful internals, that larger size is necessary so that both phones last around the same amount of time.
Charging is faster on the Nord 4, though: the 100W wired adapter takes the phone from empty to full in just under half an hour, which is fast. Charging on the Nord CE 4 Lite is only slightly slower, with the 80W wired adapter taking around 20 minutes longer to fully juice up your phone (remember, the battery is smaller!).
Neither phone has a wireless charging system, but the Lite does offer reverse wired charging, so you can use it as a power bank to charge other devices.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite: Verdict
In almost every part of this article, you’ll read that the OnePlus Nord 4 matches or surpasses the Nord CE 4 Lite, and that’s really the whole story of this comparison.
The Nord 4 is a more powerful phone with better photography capabilities, a more attractive display, and significantly more storage.
The only thing the CE 4 Lite has going for it is its price, which undercuts that of the Nord 4 by a wide margin. The CE 4 Lite matches the Nord 4 in terms of software and battery life, but elsewhere the Nord 4 is simply the better phone.