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Image: Xiaomi
Those looking for an Android tablet might want to hold off on making any purchase at the moment, as a new offering from Chinese giant Xiaomi is on the way imminently.
Here’s what we know about the highly anticipated Xiaomi Pad 6, now confirmed to launch this month.
When will the Xiaomi Pad 6 be released?
Xiaomi has finally confirmed that the Pad 6 will launch on 18 April, at the same event where it will unveil the Xiaomi 13 Ultra phone and the Xiaomi Band 8 wearable.
It’s been a long wait. The Pad 5 was first announced in China in August 2021, going on sale in the rest of the world later in early 2022. That means it’s been more than a year since the Pad 5, and so in some ways the Pad 6 already feels overdue.
As with most Xiaomi products, we wouldn’t expect to see it available in the US, and if the previous generation is any guide then there may be a China-only Pro model, with only the regular Pad 6 making it overseas.
How much will the Xiaomi Pad 6 cost?
There’s no confirmation on an official price for the Pad 6 yet, so we need to look at how much the previous generation cost to give us some idea. Here’s the prices for the Xiaomi Pad 5:
- Xiaomi Pad 5 6GB/128GB – £369/€349/₹26,999
- Xiaomi Pad 5 6GB/256GB – €399/₹28,999
As you can see, those prices are already quite competitive against the 10.2in iPad against which it directly competes. Because of that, we’d expect to see them stay pretty much the same when the Xiaomi Pad 6 arrives.
What specs and features will we see in the Xiaomi Pad 6?
We’re only beginning to see the first leaks about the Pad 6 series, which is expected to include the Xiaomi Pad 6 and Pad 6 Pro – though we’ve seen one of the two models in the official image at the top of this page, which shows off a range of colours and returning keyboard and stylus support.
The best information we have comes from XiaomiUI, which found code hinting at both of these tablets, with the code names ‘pipa’ and ‘liuqin’ respectively.
According to the code dive, the regular Xiaomi Pad 6 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870, the natural step up from the 860 in its predecessor.
The Pad 6 Pro will be more powerful, using the flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. The code details more specs here too, including a 1880×2880 120Hz AMOLED display, quad stereo speakers, and a dual rear camera setup that will apparently consist of a main camera and a depth sensor. Zooming into the official image reveals that this main lens should be 50Mp.
We’ve since heard more from the usually reliable Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station. He agrees that the two tablets will use the Snapdragon 870 and 8+ Gen 1 respectively, adding that the Pro will go as high as 12GB of RAM and 512GB storage.
He disagrees slightly on the screens though, predicting that both tablets will use similar 11in displays with a resolution of 1800×2880 – similar to that above, but not exactly the same – adding that while the Pad 6 will use a 120Hz refresh rate, the Pro will be faster at 144Hz.
Interestingly he also adds that both tablets will feature fingerprint scanners – which weren’t featured on last year’s models – and will have the same 67W wired charging.
With no other clear indicators of what the new model will include, here’s what we’d like to see with the Xiaomi Pad 6.
Better connectivity options
In our Xiaomi Pad 5 review, one of the few hardware improvements we thought were necessary came in the area of connectivity. First up, there is no LTE version available, which can be a problem if you find yourself out of Wi-Fi range. So, we’d hope for at least a 4G model on the Pad 6 if 5G capabilities are still too expensive to hit those low price points. Wi-Fi 6 would also be nice, although it’s not really that pressing as most people still don’t have compatible routers at home.
More memory
While Xiaomi offers two storage variants on the Pad 5 – 128GB and 256GB – both come with 6GB of RAM. Admittedly, this isn’t too bad, but we’d be much happier to see 8GB in the Pad 6, especially if the expected
Android 12L operating system that’s optimised for tablets arrives this year.
Pro models worldwide
Of course, Xiaomi could fix all of the issues we’ve outlined above by simply releasing the Pro models that only made it to China in the form of the Pad 5 Pro. Those came with 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and offered an 8GB/256GB configuration that would have been perfect. So, the answer already exists, it just needs to be put on some ships and delivered to these shores.
Hopefully, the Xiaomi Pad 6 will make this a reality. If you can’t wait until then, check out our roundup of the
best Android tablets to see if something else takes your fancy.
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.
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