While the OnePlus Nord is shaping up to be a killer budget phone, with its impressive specs, design and camera array for a sub-$500 price. It also represents a major pivot for the Chinese phone maker. The Nord brand is at once a return to OnePlus’ roots but also a new chapter for the company.
OnePlus’ story thus far is one of rather impressive success. Founded back in December 2013 by Pete Lau and Carl Pei, the Shenzhen-based company is a mere six-and-a-half years old. But it now sees revenues of $1.4 billion and has grown from an obscure phone company into a brand that has a zealous following.
That’s not surprising, given OnePlus has spent years building up its community. The OnePlus One was the company’s first affordable phone with flagship-challenging specs. And with the Cyanogen OS it offered tech fans a powerful alternative to the Samsung, HTC and Sony handsets at the time. Available through invitation only, the first OnePlus phones laid the foundations for a company that claims to “Never Settle”.
This invitation-only means of selling the OnePlus phones allowed the company to regulate the flow of devices in the face of high demand. But a move to its Oxygen OS — a slick and lightweight skin of Android — and the removal of the invitation-to-buy scheme saw OnePlus expand its reach.
In 2017, the OnePlus 5 became the company’s fastest-selling smartphone, showing that it was no longer an Android upstart but a true mainstream phone brand. Subsequently, the OnePlus 6 and 6T cemented OnePlus’ position as a brand that made well-priced phones with flagship specs, falling sort of but a few high-end phone features and offering very good but not great smartphone photography.
(Image credit: Amazon)
However, with the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, the company decided to fork its phone lineup, with one flagship-killer and effectively a full high-end phone. It arguably fell a little short with the latter Pro phone as well as the Pro ‘T’ versions. But with the OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus came out with a true flagship phone, and one with a flagship price to boot.
This was a triumph for OnePlus. But with both the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro starting at $699 and $899 respectively, OnePlus no longer had keenly-priced phones sitting at or under the $500 mark.
Tuomas Lampen, OnePlus’ head of European Strategy at OnePlus, told Tom’s Guide that as its community of users demanded “more and more” out of its devices, the prices of OnePlus’ phones have gone up.
This marked somewhat of a departure from its roots and left a gap in the market of its own making; there was no longer an OnePlus handset to properly offer a flagship-killing smartphone experience for a wallet-friendly price. But OnePlus realized this and that was how the Nord brand came about.
Heading up Nord
“Now we’ve seen a growing interest and demand from our community that we should be making affordable devices as well,” Lampen explained.
He noted that there’s been a demand for mid-range phones for years. But OnePlus needed to choose the right moment to push back into that arena while not eroding its reputation for delivering smooth and fast performance.
“We have this great user experience we are able to offer in the flagship devices; how can we bring that premium feel to [the budget segment]? Lampen posited, and then in answer to his own question he responded that OnePlus went back to its community to establish what are the core expectations they have from a OnePlus phone.
The feedback yielded a desire for a good-quality device that delivers smooth performance and has strong cameras. But that’s quite a challenge for an affordable phone. After all, the current budget champions such as the iPhone SE 2020 and Pixel 3a deliver excellent phone photography results but only come with a single camera, while those that have more tend to deliver less -than-stellar results.
But the advent of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 7-series chipsets offered a solution to this challenge. Sitting in between the flagship 8-series and the more budget-oriented Snapdragon 6-series, the Snapdragon 765G in the OnePlus Nord offers solid performance and support for multiple cameras, 4K HDR video, and smart battery-saving features, all without requiring smartphone makers to cough up premium prices of an 8-series part.
(Image credit: Qualcomm)
“With our close partners at Qualcomm, they’ve been able to deliver a chipset that’s more affordable to us but obviously offers the most important bits of the flagship category,” said Lampen.
Lower-end Snapdragon 7-series chips have been around since 2018, but Snapdragon 765G was only available to phone makers earlier this year. That was fortuitous as it gave OnePlus a chip with an affordable octa-core processor and a 5G modem for its budget handset. This meant it could weave a line between delivering an affordable phone yet one with enough performance for pretty much every Android task and offer 5G connectivity.
The overall specs of the OnePlus Nord was decided by what makes a core OnePlus experience, Lampen explained. OnePlus took the most significant parameters of its flagship phones, such as performance, cameras and an expansive display then worked them into an affordable handset.
That’s why you’ll not only find a powerful chip but also 12GB of RAM, up to 256GB of storage space, 30W fast charging, and a 4,115 MAH battery in the Nord. And its 6.44-inch AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate is pretty much on par with the display of the OnePlus 8; while it’s not a ‘pro-level’ 120Hz panel, it’s fast enough for most people and an impressive feature for a phone that sits below $500.
No OnePlus 8T Pro?
The OnePlus Nord looks much like a spiritual successor to the flagship-killer OnePlus phones of yore. Yet that had us wondering if OnePlus was effectively cannibalizing its premium phones, rendering the likes of the OnePlus 8 Pro moot to all but the most fevered chasers of high-end phone specs.
But Lampen said there’s still very much an appetite for premium flagship OnePlus phones.
“I completely understand the description that we’re going back somewhere we’ve been. But the difference is back then those were still flagship category devices, it’s just the industry and demand from consumers has changed,” Lampen said. He noted that while a high-end phone could once be had for $500, today’s flagship handsets – think the iPhone 11 Pro or Galaxy S20 Plus, now push towards or beyond the $1,000 mark.
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
As such, what was once a flagship price range is now a place where mid-range phones sit. OnePlus isn’t exactly returning to its roots with the Nord, but is entering a new market, only one that bears a similarity to where it has been before.
And Lampen noted this means OnePlus isn’t going to stop making high-end phones either: “I feel that we still have a huge demand for the flagship category; people are expecting us to make as great devices as we can.”
“But then we have this huge mass market audience who I think they will be excited to get to experience the OnePlus user experience with our Oxygen OS and getting that in a much more affordable price point. And yes, in the price point where we used to be a few years ago,” Lampen added.
“But we definitely have the kind of separation of the flagship category devices and the target group who wants to buy those, and then this more affordable line with a new target group.”
Lampen stopped short of confirming that a OnePlus 8T Pro was in the works, but it would appear that it’s certainly on the cards. And while OnePlus is indeed returning to its roots with the Nord it’s doing it through a new brand and is certainly not going to give up making true flagship Android handsets to stand shoulder to shoulder with Samsung, Apple and Google’s very best phones.
What’s next for Nord?
With the OnePlus Nord looking set to be a hero of the affordable phone category, it’s easy to forget that Nord is actually a family of products. What that family will be made up of has yet to be seen, but OnePlus intends to build it out.
“It’s a little bit too early to discuss,” Lampen said when we pressed him on the issue. “Now the first step in the smartphones [range] is to go to this mid-range [market] with OnePlus Nord and the first device also called the same. So definitely we can expect more devices coming out going forward.”
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
But Lampen noted OnePlus needs to “follow the market” and gauge how well its first Nord device is received before pursuing other gadgets and potentially other markets; we discussed with Lampen at the potential for the OnePlus Nord to make it out of India and Europe and over to the U.S. He did say that OnePlus is following other product groups as well, such as TV and headphones, which could suggest that the Nord brand will be built out beyond smartphones.
“Our overall target as a tech company is we’re looking at different technologies […] and we just need to see where we can bring something new to the table or where we can bring the user experience to another level,” Lampen said.
In short, we can pretty much expect more OnePlus Nord phones in the future and likely in more markets. But there’s a good chance Nord could become a family of tech products that transform OnePlus for being primarily a phone maker upstart born out of Shenzhen’s melting pot of innovation and tech industry, into a consumer tech powerhouse that could snap at the heels of Apple while also drastically undercutting it.
Nord might mean North in a range of European languages, but OnePlus seems to be ready to travel in any direction as it opens a new chapter in its tech history.
Copenhagen, 22.10.2024 – COBOD International, the global leader in 3D construction printing technology, proudly introduces the BOD3 3D Construction Printer for 3D printing of real concrete. Equipped with an extendable ground-based track system, the BOD3 advances the construction process by eliminating printer downtime between multiple buildings on the same site, setting anew benchmark for productivity and efficiency. The BOD3 is the most advanced solution for high-volume low-rise construction and a very effective alternative to conventional construction methods.
The heart and key feature of the new BOD3 3D printer is the advanced extendable ground-based track system. This system enables limitless extension along the Y-axes (length), expanding the printable area to cover 2 or 3 buildings, and reducing setup time to a single installation for multi-building projects. It’s a game-changer, allowing continuous, uninterrupted printing across large sites, increasing efficiency for high volume and mass production at an unmatchable scale.
Render of COBOD BOD3 3D Construction Printer.
The BOD3, COBOD’s third printer model, is the outstanding achievement of years of dedicated research, development, and close collaboration with customers. It is a vital advancement in automated construction technology, directly addressing the urgent global demand for faster, smarter, more efficient and sustainable building solutions. Like every COBOD 3D printer, the BOD3’s modular design offers customization, allowing it to easily adapt to any customer’s size wishes in addition to complying with the various sizes of construction sites anywhere in the world.
The BOD3 follows COBOD’s vision to build smarter through automation. Its operational stand combines the control and monitoring of both the 3D printer and supplementary equipment in one user-friendly system. The Advanced Hose Management System (AHMS) transports 3D printable material from the materials delivery system to the printhead via hoses secured within E-chains, minimizing physical labor and optimizing material flow. With the addition of the dual dosing system for additives, operators can better control the concrete and adapt it to onsite environmental conditions. By introducing additives directly at the printhead, the system reduces drying time between layers, speeding up the overall construction process. Designed for easy operation and precision, the BOD3 can be operated by a small, trained, and certified team, reducing the costs of projects.
Incorporating the innovative Universal X-Carriage, the BOD3 is ready for future COBOD advancements and technologies, like the introduction of additional tools for the printer aimed at insulating, painting, sanding, etc. This ensures long-term versatility and performance that will keep the BOD3 at the forefront of the industry for years to come.
Universal X-Carriage with Printhead.
Already deployed to the global market, the BOD3 is currently active in Indonesia, by Modula Tiga Dimensi, Angola, by Power2Build, andBahrain, by Ab’aad 3D. The customers report faster project execution with near-zero downtime between individual buildings on the same site. The projects showcase the BOD3’s ability to speed up construction and print with real concrete, with 99% locally sourced materials and 1% of innovative D.fab, a co-developed solution by COBOD and Cemex to make concrete 3D printable.
Henrik Lund-Nielsen, Founder and General Manager of COBOD, commented on the BOD3: “The global housing crisis demands a more efficient construction solution that is faster, more efficient, and scalable. The BOD3 is our answer to this challenge. Drawing on years of research and expertise, we’ve designed the BOD3 with innovative features, making it our most cost-effective and efficient model yet for multiple low-rise buildings. Its design supports high-volume, linear production of houses, enabling mass production without compromising quality. The fact that six units have already been sold before its official launch speaks volumes about the BOD3’s market demand and the trust our customers place in our technology.”
Michael Holm, Chief Innovation Officer at COBOD, states, “The advanced ground-based track system was developed as a response to our customers’ needs to increase efficiency and productivity. Now the 3D construction printer can be easily extended, and multiple consecutive structures can be printed with minimal repositioning and zero downtime between projects, making 3D construction printing more efficient than ever before.”
The BOD3 is now available for purchase worldwide; for more information, please visit our website, www.cobod.com, or contact us at info@cobod.com.
COBOD stands as the global leader in supplying 3D printers for the construction sector, with over 80 printers distributed across North and Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Driven by a mission to revolutionize construction through multifunctional robots based on 3D printing, COBOD envisions automating half of the construction processes to achieve faster, cost-effective, sustainable results with enhanced design versatility.
From residential, commercial, and public buildings, COBOD’s 3D printers have been instrumental in erecting 1- to 3-story structures across all six inhabited continents. The innovative technology also extends to fabricate large-scale data centers, wind turbine towers, tanks, and more.
Embracing an open-source material approach, COBOD collaborates with global partners, including customers, academia, and suppliers. The company, backed by prominent shareholders such as General Electric, CEMEX, Holcim, and PERI, operates from its main office in Copenhagen, Denmark, and regional competence centers in Miami, Florida, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. COBOD’s dynamic team comprises over 100 professionals from 25 diverse nationalities.
ABOUT MODULA TIGA DIMENSI
PT Modula Tiga Dimensi is a joint venture between Bakrie & Brothers (BNBR) and COBOD. BNBR focuses on offering and providing solutions for housing backlog problems currently encountered by the country.
Teaming up with COBOD International, the company is now set to adopt the latest 3D printing construction technology and is ready to offer the Indonesian market a new and better solution to housing obstructions.
ABOUT POWER2BUILD
Reshaping the construction sector and adapting it to urgent human needs.
Power2Build is a technology company for the construction industry, prepared to establish partnerships with private, public, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) so that they can make the transition to Build 4.0 through 3DCP.
We offer our clients value-added services and high-quality projects, always with a multidisciplinary approach that brings together the necessary experience to deal with complex issues.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence‘s recent rise to the forefront of business has left most office workers wondering how often they should use the technology and whether a computer will eventually replace them.
Those were among the highlights of a recent study conducted by the workplace communications platform Slack. After conducting in-depth interviews with 5,000 desktop workers, Slack concluded there are five types of AI personalities in the workplace: “The Maximalist” who regularly uses AI on their jobs; “The Underground” who covertly uses AI; “The Rebel,” who abhors AI; “The Superfan” who is excited about AI but still hasn’t used it; and “The Observer” who is taking a wait-and-see approach.
Only 50% of the respondents fell under the Maximalist or Underground categories, posing a challenge for businesses that want their workers to embrace AI technology. The Associated Press recently discussed the excitement and tension surrounding AI at work with Christina Janzer, Slack’s senior vice president of research and analytics.
Q: What do you make about the wide range of perceptions about AI at work?
A: It shows people are experiencing AI in very different ways, so they have very different emotions about it. Understanding those emotions will help understand what is going to drive usage of AI. If people are feeling guilty or nervous about it, they are not going to use it. So we have to understand where people are, then point them toward learning to value this new technology.
Q: The Maximalist and The Underground both seem to be early adopters of AI at work, but what is different about their attitudes?
A: Maximalists are all in on AI. They are getting value out of it, they are excited about it, and they are actively sharing that they are using it, which is a really big driver for usage among others.
The Underground is the one that is really interesting to me because they are using it, but they are hiding it. There are different reasons for that. They are worried they are going to be seen as incompetent. They are worried that AI is going to be seen as cheating. And so with them, we have an opportunity to provide clear guidelines to help them know that AI usage is celebrated and encouraged. But right now they don’t have guidelines from their companies and they don’t feel particularly encouraged to use it.
Overall, there is more excitement about AI than not, so I think that’s great We just need to figure out how to harness that.
Q: What about the 19% of workers who fell under the Rebel description in Slack’s study?
A: Rebels tend to be women, which is really interesting. Three out of five rebels are women, which I obviously don’t like to see. Also, rebels tend to be older. At a high level, men are adopting the technology at higher rates than women.
Q: Why do you think more women than men are resisting AI?
A: Women are more likely to see AI as a threat, more likely to worry that AI is going to take over their jobs. To me, that points to women not feeling as trusted in the workplace as men do. If you feel trusted by your manager, you are more likely to experiment with AI. Women are reluctant to adopt a technology that might be seen as a replacement for them whereas men may have more confidence that isn’t going to happen because they feel more trusted.
Q: What are some of the things employers should be doing if they want their workers to embrace AI on the job?
A: We are seeing three out of five desk workers don’t even have clear guidelines with AI, because their companies just aren’t telling them anything, so that’s a huge opportunity.
Another opportunity to encourage AI usage in the open. If we can create a culture where it’s celebrated, where people can see the way people are using it, then they can know that it’s accepted and celebrated. Then they can be inspired.
The third thing is we have to create a culture of experimentation where people feel comfortable trying it out, testing it, getting comfortable with it because a lot of people just don’t know where to start. The reality is you can start small, you don’t have to completely change your job. Having AI write an email or summarize content is a great place to start so you can start to understand what this technology can do.
Q: Do you think the fears about people losing their jobs because of AI are warranted?
A: People with AI are going to replace people without AI.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it would provide up to $325 million to Hemlock Semiconductor for a new factory, a move that could help give Democrats a political edge in the swing state of Michigan ahead of election day.
The funding would support 180 manufacturing jobs in Saginaw County, where Republicans and Democrats were neck-in-neck for the past two presidential elections. There would also be construction jobs tied to the factory that would produce hyper-pure polysilicon, a building block for electronics and solar panels, among other technologies.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters that the funding came from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. It’s part of a broader industrial strategy that the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, supports, while Republican nominee Donald Trump, the former president, sees tariff hikes and income tax cuts as better to support manufacturing.
“What we’ve been able to do with the CHIPS Act is not just build a few new factories, but fundamentally revitalize the semiconductor ecosystem in our country with American workers,” Raimondo said. “All of this is because of the vision of the Biden-Harris administration.”
A senior administration official said the timing of the announcement reflected the negotiating process for reaching terms on the grant, rather than any political considerations. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the process.
After site work, Hemlock Semiconductor plans to begin construction in 2026 and then start production in 2028, the official said.
Running in 2016, Trump narrowly won Saginaw County and Michigan as a whole. But in 2020 against Biden, both Saginaw County and Michigan flipped to the Democrats.
