Xiaomi continues to raise the bar for affordable tablets, bringing premium design and flagship-level performance to a much more accessible price point. The new Xiaomi Pad 8 follows that same formula, arriving with upgraded internals and refined hardware that make it feel far more expensive than it actually is.
Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset—the same family of processor that previously appeared in the Pro lineup—the Pad 8 delivers serious performance gains while leaving enough room for a future Pro model to push even further upmarket.
Design
At first glance, the Xiaomi Pad 8 doesn’t stray too far from the modern tablet formula. It keeps the slim bezels, flat frame, and rounded corners from its predecessor, resulting in a clean and familiar design that fits right in with today’s premium slates.
What’s more impressive is just how slim and light it feels. Measuring only 5.8mm thick, it’s only slightly thicker than Apple’s iPad Pro, despite costing significantly less.
The camera module gets a subtle redesign this year, with the dual-tone LED flash now shaped more like a ring light, giving it a slightly more polished look. There’s still a single 13MP rear camera alongside it, while the front houses an 8MP selfie camera embedded into the bezel. Both cameras are serviceable for video calls and quick snaps, but don’t expect smartphone-level photography—especially in low-light situations.
One of the biggest highlights remains the metal unibody construction. At this price point, many competitors still rely on plastic builds, so the aluminium finish gives the Pad 8 a much more premium feel. The green and blue colour options also add more personality compared to the standard black variant, and the matte finish does a solid job of resisting fingerprint smudges.
Build quality feels sturdy overall, although there’s still no official IP rating for water or dust resistance.
One notable omission is the lack of a fingerprint scanner. Instead, Xiaomi relies on facial recognition for unlocking the device. It works reliably enough for the lock screen, but for banking apps and more secure logins, you’ll still need your PIN or password.
For productivity users, pogo pins on the rear allow seamless attachment to Xiaomi’s latest Focus Keyboard. The magnetic connection feels secure, and the floating hinge design gives off strong Apple Magic Keyboard vibes—in a good way.
The Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro is also supported, offering pressure sensitivity and shortcut functionality for note-taking and creative work. In daily use, it feels highly responsive and accurate, making it a strong alternative to the Apple Pencil experience.
Audio performance is equally solid. The quad-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos support delivers loud, clear sound with decent bass presence—easily among the better speaker systems in this price range.
Display
The Xiaomi Pad 8 features an 11.2-inch display that strikes a nice balance between portability and productivity. It’s large enough for split-screen multitasking without becoming too cumbersome to hold.
Its 3,200 × 2,136 resolution is impressively sharp, offering more pixels per inch than many rivals in the same segment. Combined with a 144Hz refresh rate, scrolling and animations feel exceptionally smooth, even though most apps typically cap out at 120Hz.
Xiaomi also sticks with the excellent 3:2 aspect ratio, which remains one of the tablet’s strongest advantages. While it introduces black bars during video playback, it provides noticeably more vertical workspace in landscape mode compared to the more common 16:9 format used by many Android tablets.
The main compromise here is the use of an LCD panel instead of OLED. Naturally, contrast and black levels can’t match premium options like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11, but considering the significant price difference, the Pad 8 holds up surprisingly well.
Colours remain vibrant, HDR10 is supported, and brightness levels are strong enough for comfortable outdoor use. Unless OLED is an absolute must-have, the display experience here is still highly satisfying.
Snapdragon 8s Gen 4
If performance-per-ringgit is your priority, the Xiaomi Pad 8 delivers in a big way. Running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, it instantly gains an advantage over many similarly priced tablets that rely on weaker MediaTek processors. My review unit came with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which proved more than enough for everyday multitasking.
Apps launch quickly, navigation feels fluid, and switching between multiple apps rarely causes reload issues. Whether handling split-screen productivity, document editing, media consumption, or casual creative work, the experience remains consistently smooth.
Drawing apps also performed very well, with minimal latency and excellent stylus response—great news for students, designers, and note-takers.
Gaming performance is strong, too. While it may not be positioned as a dedicated gaming tablet, it handles modern 3D Android titles comfortably with stable frame rates and without major thermal throttling during longer sessions.
Xiaomi HyperOS 3
Xiaomi’s HyperOS continues to mature nicely on larger screens, and version 3.0 running on Android 16 makes the Pad 8 feel even more productivity-focused.
The UI remains clean, responsive, and well-optimised for tablet use. The floating dock system makes multitasking intuitive, allowing quick access to split-screen mode and floating windows with minimal effort.
You can comfortably run two apps side-by-side while keeping a third floating window active, which works well for work and study scenarios. Split-screen remains vertical-only, however, and there’s still no true overflow window support.
Workstation Mode aims to be Xiaomi’s answer to Samsung DeX, but it still lacks the same level of flexibility. External display support only mirrors the tablet instead of extending the desktop experience, which limits its usefulness for serious desktop-style workflows.
For users already invested in Xiaomi’s ecosystem, the cross-device integration is genuinely useful. Features like mirrored phone screens, shared clipboard, synced notifications, and app continuity help create a smoother multi-device workflow. It still isn’t quite at the level of Apple’s ecosystem integration, but it’s clearly improving.
There’s also no shortage of built-in AI features. The Gallery app supports object removal and image expansion, Voice Recorder can transcribe and summarise recordings, and Notes can summarise documents or expand text. These tools are helpful, though not particularly groundbreaking, and features like Gemini and Circle to Search are also included.
Software support is expected to include around four years of Android updates and an additional two years of security patches—solid, though not class-leading.
Battery Life
Battery life is another strong point. The Xiaomi Pad 8 packs a large 9,200mAh battery paired with 45W fast charging via USB-C. Despite the more powerful chipset, endurance remains excellent.
For typical mixed usage—web browsing, productivity work, streaming, and social apps—it comfortably lasts multiple days. Even heavier media consumption, like long video streaming sessions, should still get you through a full day without anxiety.
Charging speeds are respectable, too, helping reduce downtime when you do need to plug in.
Final Words
Starting from RM1,599, the Xiaomi Pad 8 offers exceptional value and easily positions itself as one of the best mid-range Android tablets currently available.
Its biggest strength is performance. Very few tablets in this price range can match the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, and that alone makes it stand out.
The LCD instead of OLED is understandable at this price, and the missing fingerprint scanner is more of a minor annoyance than a dealbreaker, given how reliable the face unlock is.
HyperOS feels increasingly productivity-oriented, while Xiaomi’s keyboard and stylus accessories add genuine versatility for users who want more than just entertainment from their tablet.
If Android covers your workflow needs, the Xiaomi Pad 8 can easily double as a capable portable work machine. And compared to building out an Apple iPad setup with a keyboard and stylus, it remains a far more affordable option without sacrificing too much of the premium experience.
Yay
- Better performance than its rivals
- 256GB variant comes with a free keyboard
- Good battery life
Nay
- No fingerprint scanner
- No OLED screen
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