OnePlus Pad may spark the rivalry Samsung tablets are missing

Samsung is dominating the Android tablet market, and half the reason is that the company barely has any competition. Android OS was historically bad for the tablet form factor, but things changed, and Samsung’s hardware and proprietary One UI were a big part of that. Samsung remains one of the few Android developers invested in tablets, but interestingly enough, OnePlus seems to want to challenge the Korean tech giant’s position at the top of the food chain.

The OnePlus Pad is a new and upcoming tablet revealed at MWC 2023. It’s equipped with an 11.61-inch LCD featuring a resolution of 2800 x 2000, 500 nits of brightness (typical), and a refresh rate of up to 144Hz. The device runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC and 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and it’s powered by a 9,510mAh battery with 67W super-fast charging capabilities.

In other words, the tablet is no slouch, but it doesn’t have the best hardware, either. More interesting is the fact that it appears to be compatible with a stylus and a keyboard attachment, which means it might come after Samsung’s S Pen suite of apps and the DeX desktop environment. Or it might not.

These accessories could be nothing more than a gimmick designed to make the tablet look more competitive than it actually is. Using a keyboard attachment with Android OS without DeX isn’t a very productive experience, and it’s unclear if OnePlus will offer its own DeX alternative. As for the stylus, history suggests that Samsung’s S Pen and the accompanying suite of productivity apps can’t be beaten easily.

All in all, the OnePlus Pad might be the Galaxy tablet competitor Samsung needs, or it might not. Raw specifications alone can’t determine that, and pricing and release date details are unknown. There’s a new Android tablet to look forward to, but time will tell if it can compete with the dominant Galaxy lineup.