OPPO unveils its first Android tablet with high-end specs from last year

It has some decent specs, but the OPPO Find X5 series stole its thunder.

What you need to know

• The OPPO Pad debuted in China alongside the Find X5 series of smartphones.
• OPPO's first Android tablet is powered by a Snapdragon 870 chipset paired with up to 8GB of RAM.
• It retails at a starting price of CNY 2,299 (roughly $364) from March 3, though a global launch remains uncertain.

OPPO used to churn out both affordable and premium smartphones over the last several years, the most recent of which is the Find X5 series. But it's now making inroads into a relatively new market for the company.

The firm unveiled its first Android tablet, the OPPO Pad, which will go on sale in China on March 3 at a starting price of CNY 2,299 (approximately $364) for the base model and CNY 2,999 (roughly $474) for the higher-end variant (via GSMArena).

The new device is OPPO's first Android tablet with some premium specs, making it a solid contender for the best Android tablets around. For instance, it's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 870 chipset, the same processor that's found in some of last year's models such as the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro. The chipset is aided by either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage.

Design-wise, it's hard not to compare the tablet to Apple's iPad Air with its flat edges. However, the bezels around the display are a bit on the thick side, so it doesn't look as sleek as Apple's tablet. The right bezel, in particular, is thick enough that it houses the 8MP selfie camera.

It also has a metal frame and glass back showing off OPPO's branding in large texts that blend with the 13MP rear camera and an LED flash module. The display is an 11-inch LCD LTPS panel with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR10 support. It also runs an interface that's based on ColorOS 12 (Android 11).

The OPPO Pad includes a 8,360mAh battery with 33W charging speeds. It also takes aim at Samsung's vanilla Galaxy Tab S8 with its own version of the S-Pen, called the OPPO Pencil. That said, it's sold separately for CNY 499 along with an optional keyboard case that costs CNY 399.