Xiaomi’s Lei Jun loves to benchmark against Apple, and it is a good thing because usually, some good does come out of “benchmarking.” Case in point: the new Redmi K Pad. During the keynote last month, Xiaomi made it clear that it is giving the iPad mini (2024) a run for its money.
Aesthetically, it is very, well, iPad mini-ish, which is also in line with its current design language as seen in devices like the Redmi Turbo 4 Pro. It’s clean, but nothing to get anyone all wet. It has a lone camera with a slight bump—nothing that should cause alarm.
The camera is a 13 MP high-res unit featuring a 1/3.06” sensor paired with an f/2.2 PDAF. It is totally capable of 4K videoing and offers a bunch of camera features. Over at the front, above the narrow bezel of the 8.8-inch 3K LCD, is a 1080p video-capable 8 MP super wide-angle camera paired with an f/2.28 aperture shutter.
Back to the display… it may be an LCD, but this little guy offers up to 165 Hz refresh rate (ha! Take that Apple!). The display peaks at 700 nits—probably not the best outdoor performer, IMO—boasts protection with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and supports HDR Vivid, Dolby Vision, and more. It has the same 16:10 aspect ratio as the iPad mini. At 8.8 inches, Xiaomi says it is the “golden handheld” size, and being just 6.46 mm thin and only 326g does help in this aspect.
Under the hood, the new Redmi K Pad [CH] benefits from a 3 nm process MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ featuring an octa-core processor with up to 3.73 GHz clock speed, a 12-core Immortalis-G925 GPU, and an NPU 890. The SoC is bolstered by LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage. It further boasts a SoC-centered cooling architecture with a massive 12,050 mm² alloy VC, which is further enhanced by AI temperature control.
The tablet also touts Dolby Atmos (but, of course), a dual-speaker setup, a triple antenna design, and—very interestingly—a dual USB-C setup. You’ll find one USB-C on the long side and another at the usual bottom location. It’s worth noting that only the long-side USB is USB 3.2 Gen1; the other is the older USB 2.0.
Finally, this little big guy is equipped with a large 7,500 mAh “longevity” battery that promises 4 years of usage. The battery supports 67 W fast charging and 18 W reverse charging. Other spec-sheet details include Wi-Fi 7, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.4, support for LHDC 5.0 and more, IPv6 support, the suspect set of sensors, and magnetic charging for the pen (stylus).
The Redmi K Pad has been launched in China in a myriad of configurations (8+256, 12+256, 12+512, 16+512, and 16+1,024), and two colors (up to 3 colors, depending on the config). Prices start at 2,799 yuan [CH], which is around 390 USD today.
Images: Xiaomi [CH].
