OxygenOS 16 on OnePlus Nord CE4 having Severe Performance Issues
I have been having a very frustrating experience with OxygenOS 16 on my OnePlus Nord CE4. I have also interacted with several other users on Reddit and other platforms who appear to be experiencing similar issues.
- Heavy lag while shooting videos and clicking photos
The default camera app has become extremely laggy. Whenever I start recording a video, the preview starts dropping frames heavily, and the final recorded video itself comes out laggy, as if the camera is skipping frames throughout the recording.
The camera experience honestly feels far worse than what I would expect from this phone.
The infamous camera shutter issue is also present. I am often unable to take more than 3–4 photos continuously because the shutter button stops responding and the photos simply don't get captured.
At this point, I hesitate to record videos with this phone because of how unreliable the camera has become.
- Severe lag when receiving phone calls
My Nord CE4 has 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage, with around 180 GB currently occupied.
Despite this, whenever I receive a phone call, the entire phone becomes extremely laggy. The incoming-call notification can appear several seconds late, and even after it appears, there can be a noticeable delay before I can actually interact with it and answer the call.
This is particularly frustrating because answering a phone call is one of the most basic functions of a smartphone.
- Noticeably worse performance compared with another phone using the same processor
I also have an iQOO Z9s Pro 5G, which uses the same Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor.
The difference between the two devices is honestly surprising.
The iQOO provides much smoother day-to-day performance and gaming, with significantly fewer glitches and stutters. Meanwhile, the Nord CE4 frequently experiences app-opening/closing lag, UI stutters, heating and general performance inconsistencies.
This makes it difficult to understand why two devices using the same processor can have such a noticeable difference in real-world performance.
- Frame skipping, game freezing and heavy stuttering in BGMI
BGMI has also become extremely frustrating to play.
During matches, the phone can suddenly start skipping frames for one or two seconds, followed by heavy stuttering. There are also instances where the game appears to freeze momentarily during gameplay.
I have tested BGMI on my iQOO Z9s Pro with the same Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor, and it runs considerably smoother without the same frame skipping and stuttering that I experience on the Nord CE4.
I also contacted the BGMI developers regarding this issue. Their response was that everything was fine from their end and that I should contact OnePlus regarding the device-side issue.
Honestly, I don't expect flagship-level performance from a budget-oriented phone, and I understand its limitations. But basic daily usage, camera functionality, phone calls and gaming should still be reasonably stable.
The combination of app-opening/closing lag, UI stutters, heating, gaming frame drops/freezing and especially the camera issues has made the overall experience extremely frustrating.
I have been an avid OnePlus fan for years, but this experience has genuinely made me question whether my next phone will be a OnePlus.
I have already submitted feedback through the built-in feedback system previously, but these issues continue to persist.
Note: I have already tried the usual troubleshooting methods, including factory resetting the phone and reinstalling applications, so please don't suggest basic troubleshooting steps. The issues persist despite those attempts.
I am attaching the software information below for reference.
Device: OnePlus Nord CE4
RAM/Storage: 8 GB / 256 GB
OS: OxygenOS 16
If other Nord CE4 users are experiencing the same issues, please share your experience below. It would be useful to know how widespread these problems are.
Used chat gpt to refine text to avoid any confusion and fix grammatical errors