Xiaomi Pad 8 Review: A Top Choice for Mid-Range Tablets

In recent times, tablets have seen a significant increase in popularity as a substitute for laptops when it comes to entertainment and casual tasks. According to an IDC report, tablet shipments grew by 5% year-over-year, reaching 151.9 million units in 2025, indicating changing consumer preferences.

While options are somewhat limited, the tablet market is largely led by well-known brands like Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab S series, and OnePlus Pad series. However, Xiaomi is establishing itself as a formidable contender, offering flagship features at more accessible prices.

The Xiaomi Pad 8 serves as an excellent example of this trend. This tablet boasts a sleek and lightweight design, an enhanced software experience, a robust mid-range processor, alongside AI-driven features that simplify productivity.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Review: Design and Display

The Xiaomi Pad 8 presents a premium look and feel from the outset, reminiscent of the iPad Air, particularly when overlooking its sizable camera module. This tablet is remarkably slim, measuring just 5.75mm in thickness and weighing 485 grams.

Constructed with a full-metal unibody featuring an aluminium frame and glass front, the tablet also sports a square-shaped camera module on the rear, awkwardly positioned with a noticeable bump. This module includes a rear camera and a ring-shaped LED light.

Basic power and volume buttons are included, although it lacks both a fingerprint scanner and cellular connectivity. Additionally, there is a magnetic space for the stylus. Overall, the design of the Xiaomi Pad 8 is minimalist and clean, appealing to many consumers.

On the display front, the Xiaomi Pad 8 features an 11.2-inch LCD with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 144Hz and a peak brightness of 800 nits.

In practical use, the tablet provides excellent visuals despite lacking an OLED display. It succeeds in delivering sharp imagery with accurate colour reproduction and HDR support, making it ideal for watching content.

The device also offers a nano-texture coating that reduces glare, similar to what is found on iPad models. Furthermore, the display responds quickly to touch and actions, with brightness levels adequate for outdoor work, although it may fall short in direct sunlight.

Another standout attribute of the Xiaomi Pad 8 is the speaker quality. The tablet is equipped with a quad-speaker system featuring Dolby Atmos, providing sound quality that is commendable for a tablet, significantly enhancing the media consumption experience.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Review: Performance, Software, and Accessories

At the heart of the Xiaomi Pad 8 is the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, paired with up to 12GB LPDDR5T RAM and 256GB UFS 4.1 storage. This new processor marks a substantial leap in performance compared to last year’s Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. According to Xiaomi, the chip offers 26% and 32% enhancements in single and multi-core performance, respectively.

In daily operations, the tablet is swift and intuitive, adeptly managing multitasking, media, and gaming. Applications open promptly with no noticeable lag, and the overall experience is well-optimized. Even with multiple applications running in the background, the Xiaomi Pad 8 maintains consistent performance without any slowdowns.

For gaming enthusiasts, this tablet provides commendable performance with the combination of its powerful processor, vibrant display, and extraordinary speaker system. Popular games like BGMI and Call of Duty Mobile run smoothly on medium settings.

Software

In addition to performance capabilities, the Xiaomi Pad 8 features Android 16-based HyperOS 3, which enhances the tablet experience. The software interface is clean and refined, filled with visually appealing animations, and innovative multitasking features such as floating windows and split-screen mode. There is also a Workstation Mode designed to give users a desktop-like experience, facilitating easy app navigation.

Crucially, the software is free from excessive bloatware, containing only essential applications that users frequently install themselves. Moreover, it is devoid of ads, contrasting favourably with its mobile counterparts in the same price segment.

Additionally, the software incorporates AI-powered functionalities including AI Writing, AI Live Subtitles, and AI Speech Recognition. Overall, Xiaomi has executed substantial improvements to its user interface, providing a seamless and user-friendly experience.

Accessories

The Xiaomi Pad 8 is compatible with the Xiaomi Focus Keyboard and Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro. Both accessories enhance productivity and creative tasks alongside the tablet.

The Focus Keyboard offers a premium build and a comfortable typing experience, though it features a small trackpad that still performs well. The trackpad supports gesture features for easy navigation between applications.

However, it does not include a stylus holder and relies solely on the tablet’s magnetic attachment.

Designed with creatives in mind, the Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro excels in navigation and drawing tasks. It omits physical buttons and introduces haptic feedback for actions like double-tapping or pinching the sides; additionally, twisting the pen allows for changes in stroke direction while sketching.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Review: Battery

Powering the Xiaomi Pad 8 is a 9,200mAh battery, ensuring it can last an entire day even with medium to heavy usage. During testing, the device was utilized for entertainment, browsing, video editing, Google Docs, and light gaming, achieving approximately six hours of screen time while still retaining around 25% battery life at day’s end. Thus, battery anxiety is unlikely to be a concern while using this tablet.

The Xiaomi Pad 8 supports 45W charging but comes packaged with a 67W charger, allowing for impressive charging times of nearly one hour for a complete recharge. Notably, the tablet also features 22.5W reverse charging, enabling it to act as a power bank to top up low batteries in other devices when required.