The OnePlus Nord is now mere hours away from its launch, and you can keep track of all the announcements on our live blog.
We’re expecting to see a mid-range phone with a suite of impressive specs for a price that could have the pick for our best cheap phones running scared. But the run-up to the Nord’s launch has been an odd one, with OnePlus drip-feeding new bits of information about its highly-anticipated phone over social media. So it stands to order that its July 21 launch event would be a little different too.
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OnePlus is opting to fully reveal the new handset via an augmented reality experience. But it’s just added a more traditional option if an AR event sounds like too much for you.
If you want to watch the most over the top version of the official reveal of the OnePlus Nord, you'll have to download a special AR app that will turn your living room into the big stage for OnePlus' big phone reveal. Here's everything you need to watch the OnePlus Nord reveal live, and what to expect from the show.
OnePlus Nord event date and time
The OnePlus Nord reveal event will take place on Tuesday, July 21 at 7 a.m. PT / 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. BST.
How to watch the OnePlus Nord launch event
You can watch the OnePlus Nord reveal event live either on the company's own site, in a traditional live stream ... or in augmented reality. For the basic version, open this page at the time of the event, and you should be good.
For the AR-based option, you'll have to download the OnePlus Nord AR app, which is available now on both the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android.
Once you open the app, you'll have an option to make an avatar (you can also skip this step "if you're boring," according to OnePlus). Presumably, this avatar will show up as part of some kind of virtual audience during the actual show.
After following a few prompts, you'll be asked to move your phone in order to create a virtual AR play space for the event. Once that's set, you'll see an augmented reality countdown timer for the show pop up.
Once July 21 rolls around, simply return to the app and watch the reveal happen right on your table, floor, or whatever area you've designated as your OnePlus AR zone. OnePlus recommends having your phone fully charged, using headphones and connecting to Wi-Fi for the best experience.
OnePlus Nord reveal event: What to expect
The star of the OnePlus Nord event will be the phone itself, which is expected to pack such specs as a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 765G CPU, up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. The phone could also tout some serious photography musicle, with a four-lens rear camera setup led by a 48MP wide sensor as well as a dual-sensor front camera array.
OnePlus has teased the Nord's design in various social media drops, but we expect to see a fuller look at the phone at the event. We also expect to hear about the Nord's price, which is confirmed to be less than $500 and could put affordable rivals like the iPhone SE and upcoming Google Pixel 4a on notice.
Also look out for a full reveal of the OnePlus Buds, a new set of earbuds from OnePlus that promise a whopping 30 hours of battery to trounce the AirPods. And since OnePlus has noted that the Nord will be an entire family of products, it's possible that we see some additional hardware reveals at the show. Could this be a new OnePlus TV or an additional phone? We should know for sure in a matter of days.
