Daily Authority: ???? OnePlus Nord 2 x Pac-Man is actually good

We’re seeing more and more brand collaborations recently. From the reviled, like Balenciaga’s high-heeled Crocs, to the odd, when Tag Heuer teamed up with Super Mario for a fancy smartwatch. 

• Everyone wants to create a meaningful limited edition.
• It’s both for creative marketing to grab headlines, add a sweet margin to a short-run product, and give the brand a little shine, too.
• Sometimes a collab goes bigger too: think YEEZY and Adidas shoes.

Anyway:

• The smartphone world has seen a few collabs too. 
• Samsung has found a friend in Thom Browne in recent years, while Apple and Hermès have been fairly consistent collaborators over the years, along with Huawei and Porsche Design.
• OnePlus has had a bit more fun: it worked with McLaren on special editions with more RAM, along with Avengers-styled phones, and there was a Harry Potter edition of the OnePlus Watch for that completely forgettable wearable, and a Cyberpunk 2077 release before it as well.

Now, it’s Pac-Man!

• My colleague Dhruv has been playing with the OnePlus Nord 2 Pac-Man edition, and has found it’s actually good and proves brand collaborations can be fun.
• There’s glow-in-the-dark elements, there’s Pac-Man-themed wallpapers, ringtones, and custom animations for the fingerprint scanner.
• Look, our man Dhruv really likes it.
• “It co-opts the fun, frenetic nature of the game and truly leans into the game’s aesthetic. As someone who juggles dozens of phones at a time, it is rare that a phone’s design sparks joy.
• “Watching the Pac-Man characters racing across the fingerprint scanner brought a smile to my face every single time, and I often found myself holding the phone to a bright light just to admire the glow-in-the-dark back panel.”

Here’s that fingerprint animation, slowed down a little so you can catch it around the fingerprint:

Small price premium:

• OnePlus has added a little premium to the price, but it’s not too wild.
• The limited edtion Nord 2 will be £499/€529, up from the standard Nord 2 at £469/€499, which has the same specs.
• And still no sign of a US launch…

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor