Review: OnePlus Pad 3

OnePlus entered the tablet game two years ago, right after Google reenergized the space with improvements to Android's tablet interface and experience. It's been a success so far—the OnePlus Pad quickly became my favorite Android tablet, and its successor refined it further.

Now we're at the third generation with the OnePlus Pad 3, and while the hardware and software continue to improve, I fear OnePlus may have lost the plot of what made its tablet so dang good. Don't get me wrong, there's not much to fault with this slate, but it's now going toe-to-toe with the likes of the iPad Pro and Samsung's ultra-expensive Galaxy Tab S10 series with its new $700 price—$900 if you add the keyboard case. That's a marked jump from the $628 cost for the original Pad plus keyboard. Was it necessary?

An Open Canvas

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

The OnePlus Pad 3 soups up everything about its predecessors, with a larger 13.2-inch LCD with a 3.4K resolution, 144-Hz refresh rate, and 12-bit color. It would have been nice to see an OLED panel here, but most tablets under $700, like the iPad Air, Samsung Galaxy S10 FE series, and Lenovo's Legion Tab Gen 3, all have LCD.

Thankfully, it's an excellent display—I'm currently typing up this review outside on a sunny day, and the screen is bright enough to be legible. I also watched the entirety of Department Q on Netflix (highly recommend!), and it looked sharp and colorful; the thin and light frame of the OnePlus Pad 3 made it easy to tote from room to room while watching without feeling cumbersome. The eight-speaker system is top-notch, and I hardly needed to crank up the volume while sitting outdoors listening to music.

The increase in size makes this tablet even nicer for work, especially with the Open Canvas system that originally debuted on the OnePlus Open folding phone. This is a multitasking tool that lets you place three apps side by side, or you can put two side by side and expand the third at the bottom or top—just scroll to access it. You can also just use apps in split-screen mode or have them float while you do something else. The Open Canvas system remains one of the best multitasking approaches I've used on a tablet, though it can take a bit to get used to. It's far better than a simple split-screen, because being able to rapidly access content in three apps just makes me far more productive. Picture it: Whatever you're working on can be expanded at the bottom or top, then you can split Slack and email together, just a swipe away.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Mind you, I still would never be able to completely replace my laptop or desktop PC with a tablet, OnePlus Pad 3 or not. There are just some things that don't work so well in specific apps, or just take a little longer in the tablet interface. (Our content management system, Airtable, has a notoriously bad tablet experience.) But for short stints at the airport or coffee shop, it's a nice alternative to lugging around a heavier machine.

The keyboard is a must-have if you're spending this much on a tablet. There's decent key travel, and I enjoyed typing on it, and the trackpad is a nice size. The best feature is that you can use it attached to the OnePlus Pad 3 via the pogo pins, or it will auto-connect to the tablet via Bluetooth, so you can use it detached. That's helpful because, while you can use the OnePlus Pad 3 and the keyboard in your lap, it's not the most stable experience, so it's nice having the ability to detach and place the screen somewhere else (and prop it up with the case's kickstand). The keyboard doesn't have a USB-C port, so you can only charge it by connecting it back to the tablet. It does have NFC, so you can tap your OnePlus phone to send files, and there's a dedicated key to trigger Google's Gemini AI assistant.

Speaking of accessories, there's the OnePlus Stylo 2, which hasn't seen any changes since it debuted with the OnePlus Pad 2. It's a reliable stylus and magnetically connects to the top edge of the slate, where it auto-connects and recharges. I'm not much of a stylus person, so I haven't used it much. It's worth keeping in mind that while these accessories are separate purchases, OnePlus routinely has bundles that let you snag the stylus or the keyboard case for free. There's a promo through July 7 that lets you get both for free with a purchase of the Pad 3.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

The battery hasn't given me any qualms. The 12,140-mAh capacity is the largest OnePlus has ever shipped, and after several hours of using three apps simultaneously in Open Canvas mode, the battery only dipped 20 percent. That'll obviously spike if you're, say, binge watching a show for several hours, but I feel comfortable saying that this battery will satisfy most. It also barely loses juice in standby mode. OnePlus throws in its fast charger in the box, so you can get a full charge from zero to 100 in 92 minutes.

Upscale Tablet, Upscale Price

This is all driven by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the flagship Android processor of 2025. OnePlus will happily tell you this is the first tablet to debut with the chip in the US, and it certainly delivers fantastic performance all around. OnePlus is trying to offer a “premium” tablet experience here in North America, where it says there are limited options. It's not wrong: You have historically only had Samsung and Apple to choose from if you want a top-of-the-line tablet.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

It's nice to have OnePlus as an alternative, but there's actually a dearth of good Android tablets at the midrange. Lenovo has some solid slates, but the software experience isn't as nice, and the company has a lackluster update policy. (OnePlus promises three Android OS upgrades and six years of security updates.) You're left with Samsung's Galaxy S10 FE series and the soon-to-be outdated Google Pixel Tablet. That's why I loved the OnePlus Pad so much originally, even if the second-gen model had a marginal price bump: They were excellent tablets that felt plenty powerful, for less than $550.

The Pad 3 starts at $700. I'm sure tariffs have a part to play in the higher price; after all, the company permanently increased the price of the OnePlus Watch 3 recently. It's still a decent price for what you're getting in a tablet, especially if you can snag the bundle with the keyboard and stylus for free. But it's missing some features I'd expect, like secure biometrics via fingerprint and a cellular option to stay connected on the go.

I just don't think we needed a flagship Android tablet right now. What we need is an amazing $500 tablet. Most people have a laptop, and tablets have long sat in that “nice to have” category. Dropping hundreds on such a machine is a tough sell, especially when Android's tablet experience still has a negative stigma (my coworkers were surprised to hear me say that Android tablets are actually good now). Also, its main competition—the iPad—is so popular that the word tablet is now synonymous with its name. Most people are going to just buy an iPad, but a well-priced Android tablet would give people pause.

This trajectory has been played out by OnePlus before. It introduced a killer phone with flagship-level specs at a low price more than a decade ago. Since then, the price of its phones has crept up to the point that the OnePlus 13 is yet another top-end phone with an upscale price of $900. The OnePlus Pad had killer specs for a low $479 price, and here we are today with a $700 tablet.

If you need a powerful Android tablet, the OnePlus Pad 3 is what I'd buy. I prefer the company's software approach (and accessories) over Samsung’s. But I hope OnePlus remembers its roots in the fourth-generation model and goes back to offering an amazing tablet at an amazing price. At least it'll keep selling the OnePlus Pad 2 for a little longer.