OnePlus was accused of abandoning its affordable roots with the recent OnePlus 8 series launch and, although that may seem true, the company is working on a cheaper smartphone that will reportedly debut on Friday, July 10.

The OnePlus Nord will offer 5G connectivity for less

The device in question was consistently referred to as the ‘OnePlus 8 Lite’ before a couple of reliable tipsters mentioned the ‘OnePlus Z’ branding that is widely used today. But as it turns out, the latter may have only been an internal name.OnePlus submitted a trademark application for the name ‘Nord by OnePlus’ in late March. It covers an extensive range of products including headphones and tablets but, more importantly, smartphones.The company itself has not yet confirmed the existence of the OnePlus Z or OnePlus Nord, let alone its official name, but tipster Max J appeared to back the latter in a public Twitter conversation earlier today.

He even went as far as to say that he ‘didn’t know’ of the OnePlus Z despite previously leaking several key specifications. Speaking of which, the OnePlus Nord is expected to arrive powered by the Snapdragon 765 chipset and offer 5G network support as standard.

A flat 6.4-inch display that supports a 90Hz refresh rate is reportedly on the cards too alongside a triple-camera system on the rear, a decent 4,000mAh battery, and an 8/128GB storage configuration by default.