The OnePlus Nord CE 5G is an exercise in hubris

OnePlus was once known for making phones that were very competitive for the price. The company didn't compete with $300 phones for $300, it competed with $700 phones for $300. As a brand, OnePlus offered incredible value that stood out, and while it still does offer some of that value, a lot of the value-friendly sheen has been stripped off over the past year. There is no clearer example than the OnePlus Nord CE 5G. It is ostensibly a phone that is made to capture the core essence of the 2020 OnePlus Nord, the Core Edition, so to speak. What it ends up capturing instead is the essence of OnePlus in 2021: Hubris.