OnePlus used to only make phones, but now the company has expanded its line-up to include headphones, smartwatches, TVs, and more. And now, perhaps a little belatedly, it’s turned to tablets with the OnePlus Pad.
The company’s first Android tablet is no slouch, with premium flagship specs and a striking – though we suspect divisive – design. Here’s what you need to know.
When will the OnePlus Pad go on sale?
OnePlus announced the Pad at its Cloud 11 launch event on 7 February 2023, alongside the global launch of the OnePlus 11 phone and Buds Pro 2 headphones, the reveal of the keyboard it’s developed in collaboration with Keychron.
At MWC, OnePlus showed off a demo of the tablet (you can check out our hands-on with the OnePlus Pad here). At the event, OnePlus also confirmed that the tablet will be available to pre order in April 2023.
However, no official release date is yet confirmed.
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
How much does the OnePlus Pad cost?
Pricing has not yet been confirmed. However, as pre-orders open in April, we expect it to be revealed in the coming weeks.
For a reference we could look at the £239 Oppo Pad Air, the latest tablet from OnePlus’s parent company, but the OnePlus Pad has significantly more advanced specs than that rather basic pad.
Instead it looks more likely to rival the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, which starts from a heftier $699/£649/€769. Hopefully the OnePlus Pad can come in a little cheaper than that, and maybe even undercut the iPad Air whilst its at it.
What are the Pad’s specs and features?
So how advanced is the tablet exactly?
Well, let’s start with the unusual design. Made out of aluminium alloy with a brushed ‘Star Orbit’ effect, the tablet is actually only available in a single colour for now: Halo Green.
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
We don’t have full specs on its size and weight yet, but the 11.6in display means it’s fairly large overall. The slim 6.54mm bezel and 88% screen-to-body ratio seem to keep it relatively compact though, and OnePlus says it’s “light and easy to hold for extended periods.”
The other noteworthy design element is that camera. The large circular lens, positioned in the centre of the tablet’s rear, seems to be a nod to the black hole-inspired camera design of the OnePlus 11, and the company notes that the central position should help make photos look more natural. We’re not personally huge fans of the way it looks, but perhaps once we find out the lens’s full specs it’ll make more sense.
The screen is also impressive for more than just its size. It packs Dolby Vision HDR support, an unusual 7:5 aspect ratio, and most excitingly supports refresh rates up to 144Hz (though the company notes this is only for “whitelisted apps” and that scrolling will be capped to 120Hz).
Audio should be loud and punchy with the inclusion of quad speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
The combination of size and speed could make this a popular option for gaming especially, but support for the new OnePlus stylus pen and magnetic keyboard accessories should make this a solid productivity tool as well. The tablet does not come with those included in the box – they’ll be optional extras.
It helps that the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset inside the tablet is powerful to drive either gaming or multitasking too. This 4nm flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 rival is a little over a year old now, but performance should still be excellent, and boosted by the inclusion of up to 12GB RAM.
While the tablet doesn’t have a 4G or 5G option, limiting you to Wi-Fi, it will apparently be able to automatically hotspot off a OnePlus phone if you have one, allowing you to seamlessly share your data.
Hannah Cowton / Foundry
The 9510mAh battery is also fairly generous – OnePlus says it should handle over 12.4 hours of video playback, with up to a month of standby time for those of us who just leave tablets lying around the living room.
67W wired charging nets you a full charge in 80 minutes too, so it’ll be back up and running in no time.
As you’d expect the tablet runs Android with the company’s Oxygen OS skin on top. We don’t yet know how long OnePlus will support the tablet with updates for, but hopefully it’s close to the five years promised to the OnePlus 11 phone.
Here are the full specs as we have them so far:
- MediaTek Dimensity 9000
- Up to 12GB RAM
- 11.6in, 144Hz, 7:5 display
- Wi-Fi
- 9510mAh battery
- 67W wired charging
- OnePlus Stylo and Magnetic Keyboard
- Quad speakers with Dolby Atmos
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Author: Dominic Preston, Deputy Editor
Tech Advisor's Deputy Editor, Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming - plus he's a regular fixture on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.