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OnePlus has traditionally focussed on producing affordable flagship phones, this changed this year with the launch of the OnePlus Nord, and now it looks like they have their eyes set on the affordable end of the market too.
The OnePlus Clover is expected to launch globally, sometime soon, the current name is believed to be a codename so the final version may be something different.
It is believed the price point will be sub-$200 which will likely help OnePlus gain some market share in developing markets such as India, which has become a key battleground in recent years with Xiaomi, Realme, and Samsung all trying to become the prominent brand.
The price and specification are both similar to the Oppo A53, with Oppo being owned by the same company as OnePlus. Other options at this price point are the Redmi Note 9 or the Realme C15.
Oppo always seems to be popular with tech enthusiasts so it will be interesting to see how this gets marketing in western markets where they will need to focus more on general users. I have no doubt the phone will be massively popular in less affluent markets though. One issue with the Clover is that it may dilute the brand a little.
OnePlus Clover Specification
[table id=298 /]
Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 Specification
The SD460 is one of the most affordable options from Qualcomm:
- 4 x 1.8GHz Cortex A73
- 4 x 1.8GHz Cortex A53
- Adreno 610
- 11nm
The Cortex A73 is dated now, but if you go back three or four years this was used in flagship chipsets such as the HiSilicon Kirin 960 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. No one complained about the performance of them, so the chipset should be adequate for general use.
OnePlus Clover Geekbench Benchmarks
Recently the phone popped up on Geekbench 5 which both confirms its existence and the chipset it is using.
Performance is not great when compared to all the phones I have reviewed recently, however, the phone is cheaper than anything I have reviewed recently, the Realme 6i costs £190.
[table id=296 /]
OnePlus Clover vs Oppo A53 vs Redmi Note 9
The spec of the OnePlus Clover is very similar to the Oppo A53 but it is not an exact clone. With this phone only being rumoured, nothing is confirmed.
Currently, the Oppo A53 is only available in India, whereas it looks like the Clover will get a global launch, this will include the US.
In the UK, the Redmi Note 9 is about the best-specced phone at the £150
The below specification table shows that the Clover has a similar display specification as the A53 (but not exact), it’s the same chipset and same camera spec.
It looks like the Clover will come with a massive 6000 mAh battery vs 5000 mAh on the A53.
Assuming the OnePlus Clover launches at the same price as the Redmi Note 9 in the UK, and in other regions, based on the spec alone, it doesn’t look all that appealing. (the Redmi Note 9 is cheaper than the Oppo A53 in India)
The Redmi has a superior display, chipset and camera specification. The Helio G80 on the Realme 6i has around 40% more performance on the single core than the SD460, so the Helio G85 should be even better.
On the downside, the battery performance will likely be far worse with it having a smaller battery and much more demanding power requirements.
The A53 and Redmi have multiple memory and storage options, but the two most popular are 4GB/64GB, which is also what I have used for the price comparisons.
[table id=297 /]
