The Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 and Mi Pad 5 Pro may be the new flagship tablet killers

There’s been a flurry of new devices in the past few days, but amidst the hype for products like the Mi Mix 4 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, you might’ve missed a couple of new tablets from Xiaomi. The Mi Pad 5 and Mi Pad 5 Pro have been launched by Xiaomi, and they’re now amongst the most powerful Android tablets in the market.

Mi Pad 5 specs

The Mi Pad 5 comes with a very respectable system-on-chip in the form of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 860, which is a similar to a beefed up Snapdragon 855+ chip. It comes with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and you can have either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Also, it should be noted that the Mi Pad 5 is a WiFi-only tablet, with no 5G or SIM support.

As for the screen, it packs an 11-inch, WQHD+ IPS LCD display capable of a refresh rate up to 120Hz. It also has some pretty good features in the form of a 1500:1 contrast ratio, support for HDR10, TrueTone colour display and Rheinland hardware low blue light certification. The Mi Pad 5 will likely do well in bright rooms too, as it goes up to 500nits of brightness.

You get a single 13MP rear camera on the Mi Pad 5, though the camera bump may look like it’s a dual camera setup. The front camera meanwhile is a 8MP sensor, which is also capable of face unlock. Meanwhile, it doesn’t have a 3.5mm audio jack but there is a quad-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos located on the sides of the tablet chassis.

Other specs of note include a large 8,720mAh battery with support for 33W fast charge via USB-C. As mentioned earlier, you’ll need a WiFi connection for the Mi Pad 5, which only supports up to WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0. It comes in three colourways: black, white and green.

Mi Pad 5 Pro

If you need a little bit more oomph under the hood, the Mi Pad 5 Pro might be more up your alley. It gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 system-on-chip, which sits between the Snapdragon 865+ and the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 888. You get 6GB of LPDDR5 RAM in the Mi Pad 5 Pro, while that gets bumped up to 8GB of RAM in the Mi Pad 5 Pro 5G. Similarly, the Mi Pad 5 Pro offers either 128GB and 256GB of storage, while the Mi Pad 5 Pro 5G gets just 256GB.

Camera-wise, things get a little weird as while both the Mi Pad 5 Pro and Mi Pad 5 Pro 5G feature a dual-camera setup on the rear, the main shooter is different on the two tablets. The Mi Pad 5 Pro has a 13MP main sensor, while the Mi Pad 5 Pro 5G gets upgraded to a 50MP sensor. Both tablets though come with a 5MP depth-of-field lens, as well as an 8MP selfie camera on the front.

The screen though remains unchanged from the Mi Pad 5. Xiaomi have again fitted an 11-inch WQHD+ IPS LCD display on the Mi Pad 5 Pro and Pro 5G, with the same feature set too. While some might find it a little disappointing that they didn’t put an AMOLED display in their tablet with a ‘Pro’ moniker, it could be to keep prices low enough to make it an appealing option. The speakers though have been upgraded to an eight-speaker Dolby Atmos setup, though again there’s no 3.5mm audio jack.

Other features of note include a slightly smaller battery than the Mi Pad 5 at 8,600mAh, though you’ll probably be able to charge it up much quicker thanks to support for 67W fast charging. Both tablets support WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, while the Mi Pad 5 Pro 5G has a nanoSIM slot too. The Mi Pad 5 Pro will come in either black or white, while the Mi Pad 5 Pro 5G is limited to just a black variant.

Pricing and availability

Xiaomi also released some accessories for their tablets, which include a keyboard and a stylus. The Xiaomi Inspiration Stylus has 4,096 pressure points and two buttons on the side, which can be set to perform specific instructions like open certain apps or take a screenshot. You can keep it by magnetically attaching it to the top of the tablet, which in turn charges it as well. The 63-key keyboard on the other hand attaches to the tablet via pogo pins, and acts as a folio cover for the tablet too.

The Mi Pad 5 series has already been made available for purchase in China. Unfortunately, there’s no word just yet on whether or not they’re bringing it to Malaysia, but seeing as Xiaomi had previously registered the Mi Pad 5 with SIRIM, it could just be a matter of time.

Mi Pad 5, 6GB RAM, 128GB storage — RMB 1,999 (~RM1,307)

Mi Pad 5, 6GB RAM, 256GB storage — RMB 2,299 (~RM1,503)

Mi Pad 5 Pro (WiFi only), 6GB RAM, 128GB storage — RMB 2,399 (~RM1,633)

Mi Pad 5 Pro (WiFi only), 6GB RAM, 256GB storage — RMB 2,799 (~RM1,830)

Mi Pad 5 Pro 5G, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage — RMB 3,499 (~RM2,287)

Keyboard folio — RMB 399 (~RM260)

Stylus — RMB 349 (~RM228)

If Xiaomi does bring their Mi Pad 5 tablet lineup to Malaysia, it could be very well received indeed. If we look at the pricing for the tablets, it’s priced very aggressively especially when compared to similar devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 that launched at RM3,299. The Mi Pad 5 Pro tablets especially offer even more horsepower thanks to the Snapdragon 870 SoC. While the lack of an AMOLED screen is a little disappointing, it’ll hardly be missed if it keeps prices this low.

For more information on the Mi Pad 5 and Mi Pad 5 Pro lineup, you can check out their respective product pages on Xiaomi China’s website.