OnePlus looks to undercut Apple and Samsung with new US$700 tablet
Android tablets have failed to make much of a dent in the US to Apple’s tablet business
OnePlus USA introduced a slimmed-down version of its premium Android tablet on Thursday, looking to beat competing devices from Samsung Electronics and Apple with its price and specifications.
The tablet, called the OnePlus Pad 3, will be available on July 8 for US$700 in the US and US$1,000 in Canada. In addition to the thin frame, the company is touting faster performance, an improved display and upgraded multitasking features.
The Pad 3’s price falls between Apple’s 11-inch (US$599) and 13-inch (US$799) iPad Air tablets. Android tablets have failed to make much of a dent in the US to Apple’s tablet business. Samsung, Amazon.com and smaller players fill out the rest of the market.
The Pad 3 is less than 6 millimetres thick and features a 13.2-inch display with a higher pixel density than the iPad Air, promising crisp text and other visuals. (Apple’s far more expensive 13-inch iPad Pro is just 5.1 millimetres thick.) Inside, it is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, a processor found in other recently released high-end devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge phone.
Battery life can exceed 17 hours with less demanding usage, according to the company. Alternatively, users can expect as much as six hours playing graphics-intensive video games, the company says. OnePlus also said the battery can recover 18 per cent of capacity after a 10-minute charge. Most iPads are usually graded at 10 hours of battery life.