Context Launches the World's First AI-Native Office Suite to Automate 2.5 Trillion Hours of Annual Knowledge Work
"Office software has barely evolved since the 1990s, leaving billions of hours trapped in manual, repetitive processes,' said Semrai.
Founded by Joseph Semrai, a Thiel Fellow who left Stanford at age 20, Context emerges from stealth with substantial backing, an $11 million seed round at a $70 million valuation, led by Lux Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. Unlike legacy office tools that retrofit AI as incremental add-ons, Context entirely reimagines the software ecosystem for a generative future, setting new benchmarks in intelligence, context-awareness and productivity.
"Office software has barely evolved since the 1990s, leaving billions of hours trapped in manual, repetitive processes,' said Semrai. 'Context's AI-native workspace frees knowledge workers to focus on uniquely human tasks: strategizing, decision-making, and creativity, while intelligent agents handle the rest."
Powered by the Context Engine
Context's pioneering Context Engine is inspired by the human hippocampus, offering unprecedented long-context understanding without performance degradation, capable of handling contexts exceeding 50 million tokens. Unlike traditional retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) methods, Context's proprietary swarm agents dynamically traverse entire organizational knowledge bases, uncovering deep connections and generating precise, insightful outputs in seconds.
Strategic Partnerships and Security Leadership
Working with Qualcomm, Context leverages Snapdragon™ NPUs for local, secure, and compliant deployments, abstracting away cloud inference costs and meeting stringent enterprise security standards, including SOC-2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications.
'This is a great example of an agentic experience. It's a breakthrough for productivity,' said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm, presenting centerstage at Computex 2025.
'While frontier labs have demonstrated AI's potential, Context transforms potential into reality," said Shahin Farshchi, PhD, General Partner at Lux Capital. 'Context's integration of multi-modal AI creates revolutionary efficiencies, empowering industries like finance, consulting, and law to elevate their client offerings and significantly increase human bandwidth for strategic tasks.'
Instant Productivity Across Familiar Platforms
At launch, Context supports comprehensive integrations with over 300 enterprise applications, including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Slack, ServiceNow and Snowflake, offering immediate familiarity and zero friction adoption.
Key capabilities include:
AI Documents: Automate professional-grade reports, proposals, and summaries.
AI Slides: Generate executive-ready presentations with compelling narratives.
AI Spreadsheets: Analyze complex datasets and produce actionable visualizations instantly.
Deep Research & Enterprise Search: Rapidly surface and synthesize insights across vast internal and external data sources.
Availability and Getting Started
Context is available broadly today. Interested organizations can request detailed demos at context.ai.
About Context
Founded in 2024 by Joseph Semrai, Context is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company combines generative AI, advanced long-context reasoning, and secure, local-first infrastructure to redefine productivity tools. Backed by Lux Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, General Catalyst, and leading angel investors, Context aims to fundamentally shift how enterprises, governments, and individuals collaborate with intelligent machines.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
China, Chips, and Chaos: Where Smart Investors Are Putting Their Money Now
As geopolitical tensions rise and global supply chains shift, investors around the world are focusing on one of today's most important industries: semiconductors. China is working hard to become self-sufficient in chip technology, whereas the U.S. is attempting to prevent the export of advanced chips in order to maintain its technological advantage. All this is happening while artificial intelligence (AI) advances at a rapid pace. These factors are creating a fast-moving, risky, but potentially lucrative market for investors. Amid the chaos, savvy investors prefer long-term stability to distraction. Here are two stocks that show where true innovation and resilience lie: More News from Barchart Dear Palantir Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for August 4 The 3 Buffett-Backed Dividend Stocks That Beat the Market in 2025 Should You Buy the Post-Earnings Plunge in Intel Stock? Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! Rising Star #1: Qualcomm Valued at $174.4 billion, Qualcomm (QCOM) develops and sells advanced semiconductors and wireless technologies, primarily for mobile phones, automotive systems, Internet of Things devices, and AI applications. It is best known for its Snapdragon processors. QCOM stock is up 3% year-to-date. Qualcomm's robust second quarter showcased the strength of its business model. Qualcomm reported a 15% increase in adjusted revenues to $10.8 billion year over year, with adjusted earnings of $2.85, representing 17% growth. The majority of this strength stemmed from the company's chip business, the Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) segment, which generated $9.5 billion. This was driven by strong growth in automotive (up 59%), IoT (up 27%), and handsets (up 12%). The Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL) licensing business contributed another $1.3 billion to overall revenue. Qualcomm continues to dominate the premium mobile market with its Snapdragon 8 Elite platform, which is regarded as one of the world's most powerful smartphone chipsets. Its Snapdragon X platform is also rapidly expanding into the PC market, to surpass its goal of 100 designs by 2026. Beyond mobile, Qualcomm is aggressively expanding into automotive, with the Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform helping it reach $8 billion in automotive revenue by fiscal 2029. Extended Reality (XR) is emerging as another growth driver, aided by Snapdragon technology and collaborations with Meta Platforms (META) and Samsung. The company intends to generate $2 billion in XR revenues by fiscal 2029. Qualcomm returned $2.7 billion to shareholders via dividends and buybacks, showing strong free cash flow generation and management confidence. The company has also committed to returning 100% of free cash flow to shareholders this fiscal year, citing strong fundamentals and a scalable model. Concerning China, Qualcomm continues to be a key player in the Chinese smartphone ecosystem, where local subsidies have increased flagship shipments. Management stated that the company's Q3 guidance takes current tariffs into account, also admitting that the trade landscape remains dynamic. Qualcomm has also taken steps to diversify its business, both geographically and across sectors, to reduce its reliance on a single region or product category. Overall, Wall Street rates QCOM stock a 'Moderate Buy.' Out of the 32 analysts that cover the stock, 15 rate it a 'Strong Buy,' one suggests a 'Moderate Buy,' 15 rate it a 'Hold,' and one rates it a 'Strong Sell.' Its average target price of $179.04 suggests an upside potential of 13% from current levels. Its high target price of $225 implies a potential upside of 42% in the next 12 months. Rising Star #2: Broadcom Valued at $1.3 trillion, Broadcom (AVGO) designs, develops, and distributes a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Its diverse portfolio includes networking chips, enterprise storage, broadband, and wireless communication. Broadcom also provides enterprise software solutions for cybersecurity, storage, and mainframes. AVGO stock is up 24.8% year to date, outperforming the broader market. Broadcom reported staggering revenue of $15 billion in the second quarter, up 20% year over year. AI semiconductor revenue soared to $4.4 billion, up 46%, marking nine consecutive quarters of consistent growth. This growth was driven by custom AI accelerators (chips designed for specific hyperscaler clients) and AI networking, which account for 40% of AI semiconductor revenue. Management confidently forecasts 60% AI revenue growth in Q3 2025, which is expected to continue into fiscal 2026, cementing AI semiconductors as its long-term growth driver. Furthermore, software is no longer a side hustle for Broadcom. It has strengthened its position in software through strategic acquisitions such as VMware for $69 billion, which officially closed in 2024. Its infrastructure software segment generated $6.6 billion in revenue, up 25% YoY, accounting for 44% of total company revenue. Over 87% of Broadcom's top 10,000 customers now use VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). Furthermore, the company is converting customers from perpetual licenses to subscription-based ARR, resulting in more predictable revenue. Looking ahead, major cloud players are expected to continue to invest, demand for training and inference workloads will rise, and software adoption will remain strong, painting a positive long-term outlook. Broadcom is not only growing rapidly, but also profitably. Adjusted earnings increased 44% to $1.58 per share in Q2. The company also generated $6.4 billion in free cash flow, paying out $2.8 billion in dividends and $4.2 billion worth of share repurchases. Despite rising U.S.-China tech tensions, Broadcom is well-positioned to thrive. It does not rely heavily on high-end GPUs with export restrictions. Overall, Wall Street rates AVGO stock a 'Strong Buy.' Out of the 36 analysts that cover the stock, 32 rate it a 'Strong Buy,' one suggests a 'Moderate Buy,' and three rate it a 'Hold.' Its average target price of $298.55 suggests an upside potential of 3% from current levels. Its high target price of $400 implies a potential upside of 38% in the next 12 months. The Key Takeaway No doubt, the U.S.-China chip war presents significant challenges. Export controls, shifting alliances, and technology bans may all cause short-term turbulence. However, the best way to profit from the semiconductor boom may be to invest in companies that can adapt, endure, and grow in uncertain times. Both Qualcomm and Broadcom serve this purpose. On the date of publication, Sushree Mohanty did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Verge
a day ago
- The Verge
Here are the laptops I'd tell any parent to consider for their back-to-school student
We're in the heart of summer fun, but it's already time for back-to-school planning, especially if that involves buying a new laptop. The dizzying number of different laptops and configurations can feel overwhelming, especially if you want something that doesn't cost too much but will still last a long time. My general guidelines are to first pick the operating system you need (based on personal preference or class requirements), and then get the best specs you can afford. If your school has specific requirements or recommendations, they are likely found on the school website. A quality laptop should also have a good screen, keyboard, and trackpad — and preferably enough ports and some decent speakers. Unless you're buying a Chromebook, aim for an M4 processor (for Macs) or an Intel Core Ultra 5 or 7, an AMD Ryzen AI 300 series, or a Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor on a Windows machine, especially if you want your laptop to last at least four years. Aim for at least 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. If your budget allows for more RAM or storage then go for it, especially if neither is user-replaceable — it'll help with performance and longevity. If you have to choose based on budget, prioritize RAM, since external storage is easily available. The Verge tests laptops with an emphasis on real-world use. That means I use it for everyday work, which is not too different from the way many college students would work: getting a feel for multitasking performance while running lots of apps and browser tabs, running the battery down to see how long it lasts, and spending ample time with the laptop as my primary computer. I also run some synthetic benchmarks to quantify things like graphics processing, but, just like a student, a laptop is more than its test scores. Much like our general buying guide, I'm looking for laptops with all-day battery life and decent performance for a good price. Keeping students and family budgets in mind, it should be a machine that can last five or more school years before getting bogged down or feeling outdated. A good keyboard and quality trackpad are essential, especially since students in classrooms are less likely to plug in peripherals. The keyboard should be pleasant to type on, durable, and ideally backlit. The trackpad should be accurate and big enough to use comfortably. Screen size can come down to preference, since what you give up in size is typically made up in portability. In most cases, around 13 inches is as small as you want to go, with 16 inches being the maximum before things get unwieldy. A 14-incher is a happy middle ground (and represented by more than half of our picks here). Aim for at least a 1920 x 1080 / 60Hz display that gets fairly bright, though higher is better, especially on larger screens, if it doesn't get too expensive. A student's laptop should be well built and portable. For younger kids especially, it should be durable. For older kids and young adults, it should be easy to repair or at least readily serviceable to last as many years as possible. A student laptop should be able to get through a student's day of classes without needing to be constantly charged. For ports, at least a couple of USB-C are essential. Taking much of that into account, here are our top picks among current laptops. 9 Verge Score Unless you're going into a field involving lots of graphics rendering or video editing, a MacBook Air should be more than enough computer to last through the student years. The Air is our top laptop recommendation for most people, and that includes students — particularly students in high school or starting college. Nothing else offers quite the same balance of performance, build quality, and battery life as Apple's entry-level laptop. It's a speedy little machine that can even handle some heftier content creation work. Its battery can easily get you through a packed day of classes. And it has the best trackpad around. The only major downside with an Air (as with all modern MacBooks) is that you can't upgrade the storage or memory after you buy it. Now that MacBooks start with 16GB of RAM, even the base $999 13-inch model is excellent, if a little short on storage space at 256GB. So you may want to consider the $1,199 model with 512GB of storage. For the same price you can get the larger 15-inch model with roomier screen real estate and even better speakers, but then you're once again starting with 256GB. 9 Verge Score The original M1 MacBook Air can still be bought new from Walmart for $649 or less. Even at five years old, it remains a very good machine for those on tighter budgets, but it's worth hunting for a deal on an M2 MacBook Air or newer if you can. That lingering M1 only has 8GB of RAM, and newer M2 and M3 versions have MagSafe chargers, better keyboards, and markedly better screens. You can often find one with 16GB of RAM for just a bit more than the M1, and it'll be better for the long haul. 9 Verge Score MacBook Pros have long been a staple on college campuses for students in creative fields, and the latest base version is one of the best laptops Apple has cooked up in years. Apple's base model 14-inch MacBook Pro is a step up from the MacBook Air, with the same M4 chip. Its starting price of $1,599 is a significant jump from a $999 Air, but you get better performance and a bunch of worthwhile upgrades. The Pro has more ports than the Air, including an SD card reader and HDMI 2.1. Its screen is a nicer Mini LED panel with higher resolution and faster refresh rate. It's got more ports, including an SD card reader and HDMI 2.1. It starts with 512GB of storage. And its battery lasts even longer. These upgrades go a long way in making the MacBook Pro better and more futureproof for heavier creative tasks. Especially since it has a fan to cool its chip, allowing you to use content creation apps like the Adobe Creative Cloud suite for longer — the passively cooled Air starts off fast in these apps, but slows down considerably once its chip starts getting too hot. Apple has two higher-end MacBook Pros: the 14- and 16-inch models running M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. They're fantastic laptops with even more processing power than the base M4, plus upgrades like Thunderbolt 5 ports, but they start at $1,999 and $3,199, respectively. An M4 Pro model is a more futureproof option, but these are better fit for a working professional than a student. 9 Verge Score The Framework Laptop 13 and 2-in-1 Laptop 12 are notebooks that can grow and change with you. They're easily repairable, and even years down the road you should be able to upgrade the RAM, storage, ports, and the entire mainboard and processor. They even have optional DIY editions, requiring some easy assembly — which I assure you is a joyously nerdy way to familiarize yourself with the inner workings of your laptop. There's nothing else like them, and if you or your kid are the tinkering types it's a fun experience for running either Windows or Linux. But you don't have to be going for a computer engineering degree. Even a newcomer can appreciate how Framework allows you to choose modular ports and swap them out at will. You can go all USB-C like a MacBook Air, or you can get funky by mixing and matching USB-A, DisplayPort, HDMI, SD / microSD card readers, and even an ethernet port. You just have to be willing to pay extra for the Frameworks' modularity, upgradeability, and easy repairability, as they cost more than equivalent or better-specced laptops from other manufacturers. The newer Laptop 12 isn't as good a choice for most people because of its price and older Intel chips, but its shock-resistant chassis and convertible tablet form factor make it even more uniquely appealing for younger kids. 7 Verge Score 8 Verge Score The latest, lower-cost Surfaces from Microsoft are great machines with excellent battery life, great standby times when left asleep, and solid performance. They're Arm-based, which is what gives them that excellent battery life, but can lead to some app compatibility issues. Most common programs run fine, either natively or native-like via emulation. Just do your homework; if certain classes require specific apps, check to make sure they'll run. The 12-inch Surface Pro (starting at $799.99) and 13-inch Laptop (starting at $899.99) are well constructed, ultra-portable machines that feel very nice to use. Despite being the cheaper Windows laptops in this list, neither feels like a diminished experience (save for some odd design choices, like a lack of face unlock in the Laptop). You can look at it as simply picking your preferred form factor: a traditional clamshell laptop or a convertible tablet with keyboard cover. The Laptop is the better buy, because the Surface Pro's must-buy keyboard cover is an extra $150 (or $250 bundled with the stylus) — meaning its true starting price is around $850. 8 Verge Score 9 Verge Score If you need or prefer a Chromebook for school and favor a traditional clamshell laptop, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is the best one. It's a great Chromebook for older students, and a solid machine for just about anyone who wants a no-nonsense everyday computer. For $750 you get a fantastic touchscreen OLED display with deep contrast and vivid colors, a great keyboard, and marathon battery life. It's a package that's well built and totally silent thanks to a fanless design. The Arm-based MediaTek processor is what gives the Lenovo its zippy performance and battery stretching into a second day of use. It can also lead to some small compatibility issues if you venture into using Linux apps (they need to be Arm compatible), but that's unlikely to affect most users. The Chromebook Plus 14 has some other small flaws, like lackluster 5Gbps data speeds on its USB ports and an only-okay trackpad, but it nails most everything else. And, again, paying only $750 for a 14-inch OLED panel this nice is a rare treat. If you want a 2-in-1 convertible Chromebook, the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is your bag. The 2024 Acer may now be getting outclassed by the freshly launched Lenovo, but it's still one of our top picks since it's so versatile. The Chromebook Spin 714 and its Intel processor offers a great balance of performance, battery life, and specs for the money. It has speedy Thunderbolt 4 ports, and its x86 architecture allows for free rein to install and tinker with Linux apps. Now that this latest version of the Spin is a year old (though still current), it can occasionally be had for $200 off. So if you want a top-flight Chromebook you can find for a decent discount, the Spin is a great choice. 8 Verge Score If you're shopping for a younger student and don't want to spend a ton, but also don't want to risk buying something crappy, the 14-inch Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 is a safe bet. It's one of the cheapest Chromebooks with the Plus designation, which means it meets a certain level of performance, battery life, and quality. Chromebook Plus laptops have better-than-average screens, and they should be able to last through a school day without needing a charge. The CX34 normally costs $600 these days, but it sometimes sells for under $400. That's the sweet spot, getting you excellent build quality, a nice screen, and a sleek design for an affordable price. The CX34's 1920 x 1080 / 250-nit display may feel a little cramped and dim compared to the 16:10 screens on the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 714 and Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, but it offers a sharp picture with minimal glare. It's got a great keyboard that Asus claims to have tested as spill-resistant, giving a bit more peace of mind when entrusting it to a child. The Asus remains a go-to choice for something you can have younger students use that lasts some years. 8 Verge Score Sometimes bigger is better, and the Asus Zenbook S 16 is a total treat of a Windows thin-and-light laptop. It's got AMD Strix Point processors that are powerful enough for even some light gaming, and the star of the show is its 2880 x 1800 16-inch OLED touchscreen capable of a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The Zenbook S 16 is one of the pricier options we have here, with a standard price of $1,799.99, but it sometimes goes on sale for as much as $500 off. This is a very capable option for high school or college students who need to run Windows and prefer a big screen for easier multitasking. And its thinness makes it very portable for a 16-inch machine, making it less of a hassle to tote a large laptop around campus. Asus also makes a 14-inch version — we expect it to be similar, but we haven't tested the smaller model. The downside of the Zenbook's powerful chip and thin chassis is that it's not the battery champ some of the other options here are. It's still enough to get through an average day of classes, but it's going to need a charge in the late afternoon if you have a lengthy sprint of back-to-back lectures or you're cramming late into the night. Treating your kid to a gaming laptop may seem like you're inviting them to slack off, but if you want to splurge on one device for both schoolwork and play you can't go wrong with Asus' ROG Zephyrus G14. The G14 is as 'normal' as gaming laptops get, with a design that doesn't scream cringe-gamer too much (aside from some small ROG branding). Unlike many other gaming laptops, the Zephyrus has solid battery life that can get you through your day's classes — assuming you save the gaming for when you plug in at the end of the day. The $1,799.99 base model uses a capable AMD Ryzen 9 270 processor and discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, which is enough power to play just about any game, even the latest big-budget ones, albeit not at the highest settings. An important part of what makes the G14 special is how good the rest of the laptop is. It's got a crisp and lovely 14-inch OLED with 2880 x 1800 resolution and 120Hz refresh, a great keyboard, and a very good trackpad. It offers a bunch of ports, and it doesn't run overly loud or hot when tackling the basic productivity stuff. You'd be spoiling your kid a bit (maybe a lot of bit) with a laptop like this, but you can meet their school needs while also treating them to the world of PC gaming. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Antonio G. Di Benedetto Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Apple Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Asus Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Buying Guide Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gadgets Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Laptops Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Lenovo Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Microsoft Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
The Verge
a day ago
- The Verge
OnePlus Nord 5 review: selfie-centric midranger
The OnePlus Nord 5 does exactly what the company's Nord phones have always done: deliver strong specs at a relatively low price. It's one of the more powerful phones at this price point and should easily outstrip Samsung and Google's more expensive alternatives. This is a function-over-form phone, one where the key selling points are a powerful processor and long battery life, which are the boring mainstays that tend to matter the most in midrange models like this. The problem for the Nord 5 is that other midrange phones in the markets where it's available — including Europe and India, but not the US — offer even faster chipsets and bigger batteries, leaving the new OnePlus phone a little stranded and reliant on an above-average selfie camera to help it stand out. 7 Verge Score Performance sits at the heart of the Nord 5 sales pitch. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chipset was designed for more expensive phones than this, albeit when it launched a little over a year ago. Combined with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage in the base £399 / €449 (around $530) model, and 12GB RAM and 512GB storage for £100 / €100 (around $125) more, it offers potent specs for the price. That lends itself well to gaming, which explains why OnePlus has opted for a display that's big, bright, and fast: a 6.81-inch OLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. I'm still skeptical about such high refresh rates in phones — few games are ever going to break past 120fps anyway. OnePlus says it's repositioned the antennae to perform better when the phone's held in landscape mode for gaming, though manufacturers have been touting that sort of work for years. Battery is the other half of the performance equation, and the 5,200mAh capacity here is good, too. I spent my first week with the phone traveling (which is how I discovered one annoyance: there's no eSIM support), which is always demanding on power, and never felt much battery anxiety. It'll last a day comfortably, and about halfway into a second, but I think you'd struggle to make a full two days without a top-up. The 80W wired charging delivers a full charge in 45 minutes, including bypass charging that powers the phone directly, without overcharging the battery, if you wanted to keep it plugged in during long gaming sessions. The major concession to price is that there's no wireless charging. The problem is that for all that power, this isn't the most capable phone at this price point. The Poco F7 is slightly cheaper than the Nord 5 and comes with a better chipset, bigger battery, and faster charging. The OnePlus phone wins on refresh rate, but that's hardly enough to make up for being comfortably less powerful elsewhere, meaning the F7 is still likely to hit higher frame rates during demanding games. Anyone looking for gaming performance first and foremost will likely be drawn to the F7, so what can the Nord 5 offer elsewhere to make up the difference? The most unique element of the hardware is the Plus Key, a new button that replaces OnePlus' traditional Alert Slider. This is a customizable key that, by default, does the same thing the Alert Slider did — it lets you cycle between ring, vibrate, and silent modes. But it can also be set to open the camera, turn on the flashlight, take a screenshot, and more. It's not fully customizable, though, so you can't set it to open any app or trigger custom functions. The Plus Key can also be used to take a screenshot and add it to Mind Space, an AI tool that analyzes images to summarize them, create reminders, or generate calendar events. It's remarkably similar to Nothing's Essential Space, which does almost the same thing — also using a dedicated hardware key — but unlike Nothing's version, you can't add voice notes to give the AI more information, get summaries of longer audio recordings, or even open Mind Space itself using the Plus Key, so OnePlus' take on the software is more basic. There's little else to complain about on the software side. The Nord 5 ships running OxygenOS 15, based on Android 15, and will get a respectable (but certainly not category-leading) four years of major OS updates and six years of security support. One extra bonus is easy wireless file-sharing between the phone and a Windows PC, Mac, iPad, or iPhone, though you'll need to install the O Plus Connect software on the other device — and sadly, there's no support for the full Mac remote control found on the OnePlus Pad 3. OnePlus has made an unusual choice by prioritizing the phone's selfie camera, which features a 50-megapixel sensor that's larger than the average selfie cam. I'm not a natural selfie-taker, but the results are good and packed with detail. They're not markedly better than rivals in normal lighting, but that's because most phone cameras now handle daylight comfortably. The portrait mode is the only small weak point, struggling to separate the strands of my hair most of the time. But this camera comes into its own at night: the large sensor and fast f/2.0 aperture helping the Nord 5 to capture impressive detail in the dark, when most other selfie cameras fall apart. If you need a phone to capture you and your crew on nights out and at dimly lit dinners, this might be the one. The main 50-megapixel rear camera is good but not great. It struggles with fast-moving subjects like pets and kids, and you'll need a steady hand to get great shots at night, but that's all typical for phones at this price. Colors tend to be a little oversaturated and artificial from this lens; the 8-megapixel ultrawide is more subdued but loses much more detail in shadowy spots. The Nord 5 faces stiff competition on both sides. You could spend less for more power with the Poco F7 or spend £100 / €100 (around $125) more for Google's Pixel 9A for comfortably better cameras, tougher water resistance, and more years of software support. The Nord 5 isn't a bad phone. But it's unclear what its unique selling point is. OnePlus has leaned into power and performance, but it has been outplayed by Poco. The Pixel 9A, while more expensive, beats it on camera and design. Even its dedicated AI button is done better elsewhere, for less, in the Nothing Phone 3A. The Nord 5's best hope for finding an audience is its selfie camera, which is better than any other phone around it, at least in low light. But as selling points go, that feels like a minor one. Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It's impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit 'agree' to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don't read and definitely can't negotiate. To use the OnePlus Nord 5, you must agree to: There are many optional agreements. Here are just a few: Final tally: there are six mandatory agreements and at least 10 optional ones. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Dominic Preston Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gadgets Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Mobile Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All OnePlus Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Phone Reviews Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Phones Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Reviews Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
