Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro Max undercuts the iPad Pro 13-inch by more than half

Inside is the XRING O3, the same in-house chip that turned heads on Geekbench last month. Xiaomi claims an AnTuTu score above 5.61 million here, along with 54% better CPU multi-core performance and 85% better graphics than its XRING O1 tablets.

The battery is a 12,000mAh cell with 120W HyperCharge, and the tablet adds a 6-mic array, Wi-Fi 7, and DP-in video input over a full-featured USB-C cable.

How the price compares to the iPad Pro and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

Starting at RMB 4,799, or roughly $675 at direct conversion, this is a 13.3-inch flagship tablet priced against mid-range Android slates in the US. That is the number to sit with, even though Xiaomi has not announced availability outside China.

Our own specs data puts the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra at $1,199 with a 14.6-inch screen and an 11,600mAh battery, and the iPad Pro 13-inch at $1,299 with 10,290mAh. So Xiaomi is asking a fraction of either while carrying the largest battery of the three. In our guide to the best tablets we noted that the Tab S11 Ultra's MediaTek chip is a long way from the desktop-grade silicon in the iPad Pro, and XRING O3 is Xiaomi's attempt to close exactly that gap.

If you already own either tablet, nothing here forces a rethink, because you cannot buy this one in the U.S. and iPadOS and One UI both do things HyperOS does not. What it should do is make you question what a 13-inch tablet ought to cost.

More on flagship tablets and Xiaomi's own silicon:

• The chip race behind Xiaomi's first flagship silicon
• Read our Galaxy Tab S11 review
• Apple iPad Pro 13-inch (M5, 2025)

What DP-in actually does for you

DP-in is the feature most worth explaining here, because it turns the tablet into a display for something else. Plug a laptop, console or camera into it with a full-featured USB-C cable and the Pad 9 Pro Max accepts video at up to 3.4K and 120Hz.

That means the screen you bought for reading and drawing doubles as a portable monitor, with no dock and no software layer in between. It is the kind of feature that quietly justifies a big tablet, and it is new for this line.

Pricing runs from RMB 4,799 for 8GB/256GB up to RMB 7,899 for the Red-only Matte Glass version at 16GB/1TB, in Black, Silver and Red.

The number I keep coming back to

I keep coming back to that starting price. A 13.3-inch, 144Hz, 12,000mAh tablet for the money most people spend on a mid-range phone is the kind of thing that should make Apple and Samsung uncomfortable, and it would if Xiaomi sold it here.

I'd personally love to see one of these turn up in the US, even at a markup. Until that happens, the Pad 9 Pro Max is mostly a reminder of how much of a flagship tablet's price is the badge on the back.

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