Although the OnePlus Nord carries no official IP rating, it does use rubber connector gaskets found in the IP68-certified OnePlus 8 Pro—so it may have inherited some water and dust resistance.

Gaskets are cheap, but the actual IP testing and certification costs a pretty penny, which OnePlus decided to forego this time. Good on them for including a little protection, even if it's not advertised as such.

Remove two Phillips screws and the motherboard lifts out next, revealing some thermal paste on the back.

The thermal paste is plopped onto the graphite foil covering the chips, which have additional thermal paste of their own underneath. On the opposite side, the paste transfers heat into a copper element running behind the motherboard and down between the battery and display.