Here’s what we know about the highly anticipated Xiaomi Pad 6.
When will the Xiaomi Pad 6 be released?
We’re not sure when to expect the Xiaomi Pad 6. 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. The next plausible opportunity for a launch is the MWC 2023 tradeshow at the end of February, where Xiaomi has already confirmed it will have a booth – but will it launch products too? 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 the Pro model may stay China-only, 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/₹26,999Xiaomi 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. 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. 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.
