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Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: One-minute evaluation
When you can rely on Chinese language tech model Xiaomi to do one factor in its devices, it’s to load them up with top-end spec after which promote them for a comparatively aggressive worth, and that’s precisely what it’s performed with the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional.
This new mid-range slate is a relative rarity given Xiaomi’s concentrate on low-end tablets over mid-range ones (it doesn’t promote top-end ones to match the value of the iPad Professional or Samsung Galaxy Tab S10). It follows the Pad 6 which was launched within the west in 2023, and it comes amidst many different Android tab rivals all vying for a spot in our checklist of one of the best tablets, together with the latest Honor Pad V9 and Oppo Pad 3 Pro. It’s this latter that competes carefully with the Xiaomi, when it comes to specs and worth – extra on that later.
As is usually the case with Xiaomi’s devices, the model has laden the Pad 7 Professional with top-tier specs. It has probably the most highly effective chipsets on Android gadgets proper now, plus a display screen decision and charging velocity that aren’t at present accessible on any rival merchandise proper now.
So it’s spec-heavy however it has its points too. There’s a fingerprint scanner constructed into the facility button that proved fairly unreliable, the battery drained fairly shortly throughout gaming, and the pill might warmth up fairly a bit. I additionally discovered a number of the AI options to be unreliable.
Given its show dimension, the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional may very well be thought of an Android-powered iPad Pro 11 rival. It is much less highly effective however prices much less and has a better-looking show… and the Xiaomi’s equipment are simply as expensive as Apple‘s variations.
So in case you’ve been contemplating shopping for a reasonably highly effective pill however do not want the top-end trappings of an iPad Professional, or the value tag that comes with it, the Xiaomi is a strong choice. Nonetheless in case you’re not as choosy a purchaser, you will discover that the Xiaomi does not supply fairly as a lot worth for cash as extra reasonably priced choices that you’re going to discover detailed beneath.
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: worth and availability
- Launched in Februay 2025
- Begins at £449, however solely on sale in restricted areas
- Equipment price a fairly penny
The Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional was unveiled in February 2025 alongside a set of different devices from the corporate together with the Xiaomi 15 collection of smartphones, the Xiaomi Buds 5, a brand new smartwatch and the bottom mannequin Xiaomi Pad 7.
You possibly can choose up the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional for £449 (round $581 / AU$900, although it’s not on sale within the US or Australia). That worth will get you 8GB RAM and 256GB storage however I’d suggest you pay an additional £50 (round $70, AU$100) for the higher-spec 12GB RAM and 512GB mannequin, which will get you much more energy. Add that premium once more and you will get a particular matte glass mannequin of the higher-spec pill, which is able to present a extra premium design however the identical internals.
At that worth, this can be a mid-range slate, designed not as an entry into the pill world however for people who find themselves searching for a collection tab with a number of energy however not all of the trimmings and trappings of a top-price premium various.
Worth-wise it sits between the usual iPad and the iPad Air, or at about £100 greater than the non-Professional Xiaomi Pad 7. We’ll get to a couple opponents later however suffice to say, you may anticipate a good quantity in case you’re paying this a lot for a pill.
I’ll briefly contact on equipment too: these don’t include the slate however you should purchase them individually. There’s a keyboard stand for £119 and a Focus Keyboard £179, and these are imitations of Apple’s Keyboard Folio and Good Keyboard respectively. The principle distinction with the latter is that it has a trackpad and allows you to tilt the show over totally different angles. Then there’s the stylus, which prices £89, and a regular cover-stand that prices £45.
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: specs
Listed here are the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional’s specs at a look:
|
OS |
HyperOS 2 (Android 15) |
Row 0 – Cell 2 |
|
Chipset |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 |
Row 1 – Cell 2 |
|
Reminiscence (RAM) |
8/12GB |
Row 2 – Cell 2 |
|
Storage |
256/512GB |
Row 3 – Cell 2 |
|
Show |
11.2-inch LCD |
Row 4 – Cell 2 |
|
Weight |
500g |
Row 5 – Cell 2 |
|
Battery |
8,850 mAh |
Row 6 – Cell 2 |
|
Charging |
67W wired |
Row 7 – Cell 2 |
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: design
- Light-weight and fairly skinny
- Three coloration choices plus one matte various
- Unreliable fingerprint scanner
You might discover the look of the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional acquainted, and that’s as a result of it boasts the identical flat-edge unibody look that the majority slates have been utilizing for the reason that iPad Professional was launched 7 years in the past. Oh effectively: in case you can’t beat ‘em, be part of ‘em, and it’s fashionable for a cause: the design is svelte and slender, simply slipping right into a bag and searching good to make use of.
The precise measurements of the Pad 7 Professional are 251.22 x 173.42 x 6.18mm, so it’s fairly slim. It weighs 500g, in keeping with Xiaomi.
When held panorama the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional has a USB-C charging port on the precise edge, however no 3.5mm jack, I’m sorry to say. There’s a quantity rocker and an influence button, and the latter doubles as a fingerprint scanner, however it wasn’t probably the most dependable sensor. When connected to a keyboard, I discovered that the lip of the folio overshot the sting of the pill, so I needed to angle my finger excellent to press my finger on the sensor.
The keyboard case provides fairly a bit to the majority of this otherwise-thin and moveable pill. Nonetheless, its added safety is value the additional dimension, in my eyes, as devices like this are susceptible to scratches and bumps.
You’ll wish to add a case or keyboard in case you plan to put the slate flat on a desk. That’s as a result of the sq. digital camera bump on the again of the Pad is fairly pronounced, so it’ll wobble fairly a bit in case you don’t use the case to degree it out.
You should purchase the pill in grey, blue or inexperienced, and the aforementioned matte glass model can be grey – I didn’t check this mannequin, so can’t discuss what distinction it makes.
Xiaomi’s web site doesn’t checklist an IP ranking for the Pad 7 Professional and I’d take that to imply that there isn’t vital safety in opposition to mud or water. Attempt to keep away from getting the factor moist, or getting right into a state of affairs the place positive particles might get into the ports (that features sand, you beach-readers!).
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: show
- 11.2-inch show and three:2 side ratio
- 2136 x 3200 decision and 144Hz refresh charge
The Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional has an 11.2-inch display screen, making this a possible various to the smaller-sized iPad Professional which additionally has an 11-inch display screen. Each have the identical 3:2 side ratio, however the Xiaomi has extra pixels.
Its decision is 2136 x 3200, which Xiaomi classifies as 3.2K – sufficient for any film, TV present or recreation you’d wish to get pleasure from on the slate. In all my testing and analysis, I haven’t discovered a pill with a better decision (and all Apple and Samsung choices have fewer pixels), so if you would like one thing actually high-res, that is for you. It equals a 345 pixel-per-inch density.
The refresh charge is 144Hz, which solely a handful of video video games can hit, however by default the slate runs on an adaptive mode which modifications the refresh charge relying in your job.
The max brightness is 800 nits, which is pretty luminous and it’ll make the colours in your chosen TV present pop extra. Nonetheless once I used the pill in a espresso store, I did battle to see the display screen as a result of glare from daylight.
One different show function to say is that there’s official help for Dolby Imaginative and prescient right here, a visible customary that’s used for films in case you stream from sure apps like Netflix.
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: software program
- Android 15 with HyperOS 2 laid excessive
- AI options are hit-or-miss
- Some bloatware
The Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional runs on Xiaomi’s model of Android, HyperOS 2, which runs on high of Android 15. I couldn’t discover official affirmation from Xiaomi for the way lengthy it plans to help the pill with software program updates.
HyperOS, for higher or worse, doesn’t change many format or design options of Android. Android has been in iPadOS’ shadow as a tablet-oriented operating system and whereas it’s come on leaps and bounds in the previous few years, with options like split-view apps and a redesigned consumer interface, there are nonetheless some annoyances, like how squished the fast settings menu is.
As a substitute, Xiaomi has jumped on the AI bandwagon by loading the Pad 7 Professional stuffed with options that bear the ‘AI’ title – although some didn’t work proper, and some didn’t work in any respect. I might by no means discover a option to allow the AI artwork function, as an illustration, which helps you to circle your personal works within the Mi Canvas app to create AI-generated pictures.
Utilizing my very own images, the AI: 1) thought film posters on my wall have been paperwork, and wouldn’t let me edit any a part of the image besides the posters 2) supplied utterly incorrect transcripts once I requested it to acknowledge textual content and three) didn’t determine gadgets I wished faraway from photographs.
Plus, you could create a Xiaomi account, check in and set up these options to make use of any of them, so that they’re not accessible out of the field, and options are unfold between separate menus within the Gallery app as a substitute of being in a single place.
Some AI options labored higher, just like the speech-to-text conversion from the recorder app, so it’s not all doom and gloom. I discover AI options extremely situational at one of the best of instances, and didn’t use any of the Pad 7 Professional’s throughout day-to-day use, so their unreliable nature received’t have an effect on your utilizing the pill in case you don’t plan to make the most of these instruments. Notably, they solely appear to work from the Pad 7 Professional’s pre-installed apps; I couldn’t use the AI writing software on Google Docs, for instance.
As with many Xiaomi gadgets there’s bloatware with apps like LinkedIn, WPS Workplace and Gemini pre-installed, however it’s not as dramatic as on many telephones from the corporate.
A couple of options make the Pad 7 Professional helpful as a working software, like the flexibility to wirelessly join it to a Home windows or Mac PC as a display screen extension (with out downloading any additional apps on both) or to show it right into a working hub for different Xiaomi devices you personal.
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: efficiency and cameras
- Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 offers plenty of processing energy
- 8GB/12GB RAM and 256GB/512GB storage
- 50MP rear digital camera and 32MP front-facing
Xiaomi has packed up the Pad 7 Professional with a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, a chipset that was designed as a barely much less highly effective various to the top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. So the Xiaomi Pad isn’t probably the most highly effective slate available on the market, not so long as Apple is providing desktop-class M2 and M4 chips within the iPad Air and iPad Professional, however it might probably nonetheless maintain its head up excessive for many capabilities.
I examined a wide range of video games on the pill and by no means noticed critical stuttering or lagging, with titles in a position to run their highest graphics choices in the event that they have been accessible. Maybe for super-power-hungry duties like video modifying you would possibly want a bit extra energy, however for 99% of patrons, I’d say the 8s Gen 3 is sufficient. Nonetheless when gaming, a standard Snapdragon downside did come up: the slate might get fairly sizzling if I gamed for too lengthy in a single session. Take breaks!
When it comes to audio system, there are 4 across the pill. These present Dolby Atmos audio for supported apps and Xiaomi has additionally included a Quantity Increase function that does precisely what you’d anticipate. Nonetheless, films and music solely sound one step higher than listening on a smartphone, and I discovered myself opting to make use of Bluetooth headphones when streaming films.
The rear and entrance cameras of the Pad 7 Professional are each surprisingly high-res; you’re getting a 50MP digital camera on the again and a 32MP one on the entrance. There are a number of pictures modes (Portrait and Night time on the rear digital camera), however you’re not getting almost as many as on a smartphone.
A small LED mounted on the highest bezel of the slate, simply subsequent to the entrance digital camera, lights up inexperienced when both digital camera is on; a bonus for privacy-conscious customers.
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional evaluation: battery
- 8,850mAh battery drains surprisingly quick
- 67W charging powers up tab shortly
- Battery well being tech
Conserving the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional powered is a 8,850mAh battery, which is in the identical ballpark as its opponents.
Xiaomi estimates that you would be able to maintain the pill working for 19 hours of video playback with that battery, however whereas I didn’t personally watch Netflix for that lengthy in my testing interval, I did discover the battery would drain a bit faster than I’d anticipate.
No less than the pill fees shortly: with 67W powering, this is among the fastest-charging slates you’ll discover available on the market. Xiaomi’s says it ought to take about 80 minutes to energy from empty to full and I’d concur.
When you fear about battery well being, the slate additionally has two chips that Xiaomi designed for its smartphones; one helps lengthen the gadget’s battery life and the opposite ensures that quick charging doesn’t injury the battery capability.
Must you purchase the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional?
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Worth |
You get what you pay for with the Pad 7 Professional. |
3 / 5 |
|
Design |
The Xiaomi has a generic design, which is not essentially dangerous, although the fingerprint scanner is. |
3 / 5 |
|
Show |
With loads of pixels and a quick refresh charge, the Pad 7 Professional makes content material look nice. |
5 / 5 |
|
Software program |
HyperOS has some options that work and a few that do not as supposed. |
3 / 5 |
|
Efficiency |
The Xiaomi Pad provides you plenty of processing energy and cupboard space. |
4 / 5 |
|
Battery |
The battery life is just okay, however it’s compensated for by quick charging and battery preservation options. |
3 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Don’t purchase it if…
Additionally think about
Not satisfied by the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional? Listed here are a number of different choices to contemplate:
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional |
iPad Professional (2024) 11-inch |
Oppo Pad 3 Professional |
|
Worth |
£449 |
$999 / £999 / AU$1,699 |
£499 |
|
Display |
11.2-inch, 2136 x 3200, 345ppi, 144Hz, |
11-inch, 1668 x 2420, 264ppi, 120Hz |
12.1-inch, 2120 x 3000, 303ppi, 144Hz |
|
Chipset & RAM |
Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 + 8/12GB RAM |
Apple M4 + 8/16GB RAM |
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 + 12GB RAM |
|
Battery |
8,850mAh |
8,160mAh |
9,510mAh |
How I examined the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional
I used the Xiaomi Pad 7 Professional for 3 weeks earlier than scripting this evaluation, alongside the keyboard folio which you see in a number of the accompanying photos. The mannequin used was the higher-spec choice.
My use instances concerned streaming films, TV reveals and music throughout varied apps, taking part in a number of video games titles, writing articles for my job and studying information tales on-line.
I have been reviewing merchandise for TechRadar since early 2019, overlaying all the pieces from tablets and smartphones to headphones, health trackers, and electrical scooters.
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First reviewed March 2025