I’ve tested dozens of tablets and this is the first Android model to truly replace my iPad Pro

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The OnePlus Pad 3 starts at $699 for the 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage configuration.
• It’s got a larger battery and display this year, as well as an updated Qualcomm chipset.
• The tablet is an OLED panel, a fingerprint scanner, and a floating keyboard case away from perfect.

jun / 2025

As part of a new promotion, you can receive a free $200 Smart Keyboard when purchasing the OnePlus Pad 3 on the company’s website.

Unless OnePlus reconsiders launching a foldable phone this year, the new Pad 3 may arguably be the company’s most ambitious product in 2025. It has a bigger screen, a bigger battery, and even a bigger speaker system this time around. There’s also a bigger price tag, but $699 for the Pad 3 has felt more reasonable as each day of testing has gone by.

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I’m currently on week three of using the Pad 3 as a laptop replacement, and it’s proven to me that $699 may be all you really need for a premium Android tablet experience.

Of course, you’ll want to surround the tablet with capable accessories, which OnePlus almost gets right. The Android software experience can have its off days, but the overall experience has been just as good, if not better, than what I’ve gotten out of Samsung and Apple tablets that cost hundreds of dollars more.

The moment I unboxed the OnePlus Pad 3, I knew I wouldn’t have a problem putting down my 13-inch MacBook Pro for it. The latest model has a 13.2-inch display (up from last year’s 12.1-inch), which makes a meaningful difference for readers eyeing a tablet for work and play. Anything larger, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra’s 14.6-inch display, would be overkill for a tablet.

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Understandably, a 13-inch tablet is still much bigger than most options on the market, and folks who prefer something more portable and easy on the wrists may want to look elsewhere.

To ease the potential pain, OnePlus has slimmed down the Pad 3 from its predecessor, going from 6.59mm of thickness to just 5.97mm. It’s no M4 iPad Pro slim, but sleek enough to easily slip into a backpack sleeve or rest cleanly on a desk.

The Pad 3 comes in only one color in the US: Storm Blue, which shimmers in denim and navy hues and is coated with a satin finish — polished just enough to prevent fingerprint grease from staying its welcome. I tend to favor silver or gold colors for tablets, since they make them easier to discern when set aside, but the classy and subdued finish of the Storm Blue has certainly grown on me.

I’m less enthusiastic about the IPS LCD on the Pad 3, which has a noticeable lack of contrast compared to tablets with OLED panels. The muted blacks on the tablet screen are especially discernible when dark mode is turned on and you’re watching a video or movie. Admittedly, I stare at dozens of screen types every week for work, so you may not notice the deficiency as much.

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Opting for an IPS LCD instead of OLED may have also been a cost-saving measure for the Pad 3. Considering it’s still a decent panel that refreshes at 144Hz, gets plenty bright (and dim), and I didn’t notice much tearing as I navigated the tablet, I’d say it’s a reasonable trade-off. The addition of two more speakers also helps the Pad 3 with overall volume and bass, though side-firing sound systems on tablets still leave a lot to be desired in terms of clarity and immersion.

Simply put, owners of the original OnePlus Pad and Pad 2 shouldn’t expect a major upgrade in visual and audio fidelity when buying the Pad 3. That’s a compliment to the previous two models, and a note for future iterations.

OnePlus has equipped the Pad 3 with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that powers its flagship OnePlus 13 phone, and the performance has been reliably fast. Just this weekend, I ran variations of multi-app workflows, including Gemini, Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome, and a banking app to plan my upcoming honeymoon.

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Besides a few software-level hiccups, like the YouTube video player disappearing after expanding it on Open Canvas, the Pad 3’s multi-window feature, the tablet never showed frustrations with loading graphics, responding to inputs, and keeping services running in the background. I gracefully danced between on-screen gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and trackpad swipes, much like how I remembered doing with the $1,099 iPad Pro last year.

Speaking of, the Pad 3 comes fitted with three new accessories, and here are my key takeaways for each:

• Smart Keyboard: A kickstand-style keyboard case with spacious keycaps and tactile feedback that reminds me of high-end laptops. I found the default trackpad speed too sensitive and fast for parsing through text-heavy workflows, but was able to dial it down within the settings. I still wish the case had a floating design, much like Apple’s Magic Keyboard cover, as it’s almost unusable on a lap or smaller desk (think cafe tables).
• Folio Case: The slimmer and less bulky Folio Case was the ideal accessory for casual browsing and viewing. Thanks to its origami-style back cover, it features several orientations, all of which keep the Pad 3 well stabilized.
• Stylo 2: Now with 16,000 different levels of pressure, the stylus is optimized for precision inputs and quick note-taking. It magnetically attaches to the top side of the tablet (when set horizontally) and has a textured grip that reminds me of old-school number two pencils.

Rounding out the Pad 3 experience is the exceptional battery life, with a larger 12,140mAh capacity that managed to last 13 hours and 32 minutes in my endurance test. That consisted of playing YouTube videos on Wi-Fi with the screen at full brightness, and beats the 13-inch iPad Pro (M4) with 8 hours and 22 minutes, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+, which is rated at 10 hours and 41 minutes. 

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The cherry on top is the Pad 3’s 80W wired charging (compared to competitors’ 45W and 30W ratings), which refuels the tablet from 0 to 100% in about one hour and 15 minutes.

ZDNET’s buying advice

While the OnePlus Pad 3 undercuts its closest competitors with a $699 price tag, the experience of using it reminded me of flagship tablets that cost much more. From the larger 13-inch display to the reliable battery life and charging, you really have to nitpick — and believe that the best tablets are the size of a book — to find a reason to consider other options on the market.

It helps that OnePlus is offering two of the three new accessories as freebies when you purchase the Pad 3. If you’re planning to use the tablet for productivity and entertainment, I’d strongly consider the Smart Keyboard and Folio cases. If your use cases include sketching and designing graphics, the Stylo 2 is the better option over either of the other two.

For alternatives, I’d recommend the OnePlus Pad 2 to those who want a similar software experience but in a smaller screen size. It retails for $549, $150 less than the Pad 3. Another big-screen option would be the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+, which comes with an S-Pen stylus and is currently available for around $649.

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