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. That leads us to believe the upcoming mid-range smartphone will, in fact, be released as the OnePlus Nord.