Deals: OnePlus Nord CE4 and Tecno Pova 6 Pro launch

The OnePlus Nord CE4 and Tecno Pova 6 Pro launched this week, let’s have a look at their prices and how they compare to their predecessors.

The OnePlus Nord CE4 brings a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 with a massively improved GPU and it has dust and water resistance – it’s rated only IP54, but that’s better than the nothing that the CE3 had. Also, the battery is 10% larger at 5,500mAh and charges faster – in our tests, it hit 100% in 29 minutes, while the older model needed 31 minutes (do note the 500mAh difference in capacity). The CE4 will get two major OS updates and three years of security patches.

With no worthwhile discounts, the OnePlus Nord CE3 costs exactly the same as the phone that came to replace it. The larger sensor in the 50MP main camera (1/1.56” vs. 1/1.95”) is nice, but there’s no reason not to go with the CE4.

The Tecno Pova 6 Pro switches over to an AMOLED panel – still 6.78” in size with 1080p+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, while its predecessor had an IPS LCD. Also, the 2024 phone brings IP53 dust and water resistance rating. The main camera jumps up to 108MP (from 50MP) and you the selfie camera goes up to 32MP (from 16MP). The large 6,000mAh battery with 70W charging (65% in 30 min, 100% in an hour) is great for long gaming sessions (and overall endurance too, of course).

That said, the older Tecno Pova 5 Pro is significantly cheaper and it uses the same Dimensity 6080 chipset, so performance is the same and both phones have enough cooling. The battery is smaller but not small at 5,000mAh. The Pova 6 Pro is not the best camera phone (though it is better than the 5 Pro), so depending on what you plan to do with the phone, the getting the older model might be the better option.

The Realme Narzo 60x is is a 5G capable phone for just north of ₹10,000. It didn’t make cutbacks to the display to hit that price point, though, it has a large 6.72” IPS LCD (1080p+, 120Hz). Not with the battery either – the 5,000mAh power cell charges at 33W. There is a single 50MP camera on the back (capped at 1080p @ 30fps) and an 8MP selfie.

Storage is expandable and there is a microSD slot. The Dimensity 6100+ is slightly slower than the 6080 inside the Pova 5 Pro, but not by much. The 4GB of RAM on the base model is more of a concern and 2 extra gigs cost ₹1,000.

From the bottom of the pricing charts to the top. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is currently in early access – a ₹10,000 deposit now gets you in the queue as the phone launches on Monday (April 8). There are some discounts that you can use to reduce the sting of the final price.

The new Motorola Edge 50 Pro (announced this week) is also launching on Monday. The phone pairs the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 with a 144Hz 6.7” OLED display (with better than 1080p+ resolution and 10-bit colors too). The 4,500mAh battery supports the impressive 125W wired and 50W wireless charging.

The camera setup is a pleasant surprise too – the 50MP main is paired with a 73mm telephoto (10MP) and 13MP ultra wide (120°), not to mention a 50MP selfie camera. It’s not quite the flagship that the Edge 40 Pro was (that one had a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 but isn’t available in India), though it’s a great value for money phone.

The Realme 12x was unveiled a few weeks ago, but it is still on pre-order. At ₹12,000 for the base 4/128GB model, this is an alternative to the Narzo 60x. It has a different display (6.67” 120Hz IPS LCD) and an IP54 rating (vs. none), but battery charging drops to 15W (for the same 5,000mAh capacity).