Behind the OnePlus Nord 3: Picking the Dimensity 9000 (2024)

OnePlus has been making use of MediaTek chipsets for a little while now, packing the Dimensity 1200 in the Nord 2 and the 1300 in the OnePlus Nord 2T. With the Nord 3, we've seen the company pack a Dimensity 9000, a significant step-up and a flagship-tier chipset that gave Qualcomm more than a run for its money when its plus variant was pitted against the next-generation's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. We spoke with Kinder Liu, OnePlus President and COO, and MediaTek's Dr. Yenchi Lee, the Deputy General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit, to learn more about choosing the Dimensity 9000 for the Nord 3.

Why OnePlus chose the Dimensity 9000 for the Nord 3

OnePlus has been known for making some of the best Android phones, like this year's flagship OnePlus 11, but those use the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. So, one of my first questions for Liu was why OnePlus chose the Dimensity 9000 for the Nord 3. It makes sense that the company is sticking with MediaTek for its cheaper smartphone line, and Liu echoes that. He tells me that OnePlus has been "really impressed with the performance of MediaTek’s processors and the price points they’ve allowed us to target," which basically says that these chipsets are a lot cheaper for the company to purchase to achieve this level of performance, rather than an equivalent Qualcomm chip.

Liu also notes that the Dimensity 9000 "is actually the same processor that powers our OnePlus Pad," meaning that there's a level of familiarity that the company can fall back on when implementing it. Lee notes that "collaborating with OnePlus makes it possible for us to highlight the power and capabilities of our advanced chipsets," which makes a lot of sense. More and more companies are slowly giving MediaTek a shot, and the early adopters are the ones that will convince the rest of the pack that these chipsets are worth trying out.

Lee is also keen to highlight that MediaTek has had a long-running history with OnePlus, with MediaTek chipsets powering the Nord 2T, Nord 2, Nord CE2, and the OnePlus 10R. Kinder notes that in the case of the OnePlus Nord 2, OnePlus worked with MediaTek and its "Open Resource Architecture," so much so that they ended up releasing the Nord 2 with the Dimensity 1200-AI, a new version of the Dimensity 1200 SoC that came about as a result of this work together.

I did ask if there was anything the OnePlus Nord 3 benefits from the Dimensity 9000 that it couldn't get on a Qualcomm chipset, and I was told that there aren't any specific features that OxygenOS has on the Nord 3 that rely on MediaTek. However, Liu told me that the Nord 3 will be one of the first phones to feature OxygenOS 13.1. To that end, Liu mentioned that this update will bring "Zen Space, a new and improved Zen Mode, as well as O-Relax, a new app designed to help you decompress from a busy day with relaxing sounds, calming white noise, and mini-games designed to relax you."

What the Dimensity 9000 can do for cameras

When developing camera processing software for a particular smartphone, the chipset that this code will be executed on and the image signaling processor (ISP) is extremely important. This is why Google Camera ports worked well on Qualcomm smartphones but took a lot of work to get working on other devices; they leveraged the hardware of Qualcomm SoCs, so when you ran it on an Exynos or MediaTek device, it couldn't process them the same way anymore

The most interesting part that Liu notes is that the Dimensity 9000 makes it possible for the company to implement its "AI Noise Reduction" feature. I can't find this feature marketed on any other OnePlus device (certainly not under that name), with the only other device sharing the same being the company's OnePlus Nord Buds in relation to calls. Liu says that this feature improves the videos you capture, which I assume refers to low-light video especially.

Lee gives more details on this, stating that the Nord 3 leverages MediaTek Imagiq AI Noise Reduction (AI-NR) techniques, which aim to reduce ISO noise for a better quality shot. While similar algorithms undoubtedly exist on Qualcomm chipsets, too, it's important that OnePlus leverages the power of another SoC platform and works with the chipset vendor to ensure that it makes the most of what's on offer.

As already mentioned, early adopters get to reap the rewards of MediaTek's powerful chipsets while also signaling to others in the space that these chipsets are viable alternatives to what Qualcomm has in the space, and Lee more or less says exactly that. When I asked how both brands benefit, Lee told me that "our partnership allows us to showcase MediaTek's advanced chipsets." Furthermore, he stated that "this collaboration expands our reach and allows us to demonstrate the full potential of our chipsets to a broader consumer base."

It's pretty clear that this is very much an exercise of outreach for MediaTek, and it essentially serves as a way for the company to prove it has powerful chipsets that consumers will like. The Dimensity 9000 was an excellent chipset when it was released, but very few devices used it at first. Oppo later released the Find N2 Flip, which makes use of the 9000+, and the Tecno Phantom V Fold does too.

As for Liu, he tells me that MediaTek has a "similar desire to be better," in-line with OnePlus' own core principles of "Never Settle." He goes on to say that "We think we’ve found the perfect processor for this phone’s mix of fantastic performance and a fantastic price," in relation to the Nord 3. From that perspective, it makes sense, as the Nord series has always been a more price-conscious smartphone line.

The OnePlus Nord 2 has been my one of my favorite OnePlus phones in recent years, and as someone who has used devices with the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+, I'm extremely happy to see the Dimensity 9000 make its way to the Nord series. It's been a phenomenal chipset in every device that I've used it in, and I have no doubts that it will be excellent in the Nord 3 too. It's an older flagship chipset in an otherwise mid-range smartphone: a compelling offer if you ask me.