OnePlus has announced the price of its first Android tablet, the OnePlus Pad. Starting this Friday, April 28th, the OnePlus Pad will be available for pre-order for $479 (€499 / £449). Direct from OnePlus. Board accessories include a $149 magnetic keyboard case, $99 stylus, and $39 folio case. OnePlus is expected to start shipping on May 8, with Amazon available in late May. Those who pre-order before May 8 can get a 50 percent discount on a set of OnePlus Buds Pro 2 earbuds when they are purchased with the tablet.
The OnePlus 8 enters the tablet market dominated by Apple, with Samsung picking up the rest. OnePlus originally sold high-end smartphones under its own name at prices much lower than Samsung or Apple; It will be interesting to see if Pad can inject some excitement into the Android tablet market in a similar way.
The tablet’s most compelling feature is its display: a 144Hz LCD with a unique 7:5 aspect ratio, which splits the format difference between an iPad-like 4:3 screen and a 3:2 screen. It’s found on Microsoft’s Surface Pro devices. It has to be flexible for both landscape and portrait, which Samsung tablets struggle with. Additionally, the display supports Dolby Vision HDR, and the Pad’s quad-speaker array supports Dolby Atmos audio.
In addition to the impressive display, the tablet features an aluminum body with a brushed metallic finish. It comes in one color: green. Other specifications include MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Like the iPad and Samsung tablets, you can attach the tablet to a keyboard case with a trackpad for productivity, or write on its screen with an optional stylus. It can also use a connected OnePlus phone’s data connection without needing its own dedicated data plan.
The iPad’s price tag puts it in the middle of the pack — it’s more expensive than Apple’s entry-level iPads, but it has hardware features that rival the pricier iPad Pro range. Likewise, it costs more than Samsung’s budget tablets, but not as much as the Tab S8 models, which share similar features. It’s a familiar OnePlus formula.
We will have a review of the OnePlus Pad in the near future, so stay tuned for more posts.
Correction, 10 a.m. ET, April 25: An earlier version of this article had the UK price incorrect.
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