Xiaomi's In-House Chip Gives The Pad 7 Ultra Flagship Power

Forbes

3 days ago

Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra Ben Sin
A few months after launching two excellent tablets powered by Qualcomm silicon, Xiaomi has launched an even higher tier Pad 7 Ultra that is running on its in-house chipset, the XRing O1.
Fabricated on 3nm TSMC processing, Xiaomi's chip features a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU, with architecture that differs slightly from the way Qualcomm and MediaTek build silicon. For example, a 10-core CPU is more than what any mobile silicon has used, and Xiaomi says the chip switches between the two ARM Cortex cores to get maximum power while staying as efficient as possible.
A render of the XRing O1 silicon released by Xiaomi Xiaomi
I've been testing the Pad 7 Ultra for the past few days, putting it through its paces as a machine for work (I am writing this article on the tablet) and play (I watched Game 7 of the NBA Finals while juggling through various social media apps on the tablet), and I am very impressed.
Whether it's real-world performance or benchmark numbers, the XRing O1 chip performs at a high level similar to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. In fact, in a 20 minute stress test in the app 3DMark, the Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra with Xiaomi silicon scored almost as high as the OnePlus Pad 3 running on Qualcomm's best chip, while being more efficient and more stable (see screenshot below).
Scores on the 20 minute Wild Life Extreme Stress Test conducted by the app 3DMark. Xiaomi's XRing O1 on the left, and OnePlus Pad 3 on the right Ben Sin
I even edited and published an entire YouTube video with the tablet, using the app LumaFusion. While performance wasn't as fast or zippy as doing the same task on a new iPad Pro running Final Cut Pro, I still managed to finish editing the 10-minute video and rendering it in five and a half minutes. I highlighted the process in the video below.
So after a series of tests, it appears Xiaomi's XRing O1 is indeed powerful enough to be considered a flagship silicon in 2025, and able to go toe to toe with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite.
As for the rest of the tablet, there's a lot to like too. The tablet features a gorgeous 14-inch OLED display with an antireflective coating that prevents glare and reflections. Getting up to 1600 nits in brightness, it is a beautiful panel to look at whether indoor or out.
The 14-inch OLED screen Ben Sin
Pad 7 Ultra Ben Sin
The tablet weighs about 609g or about 1.3lbs, and measure just 5.1mm thick. The body is crafted out of aluminum, and houses a 12,000 mAh battery inside that can be charged at 120W speed with the included charger.
With a tablet this big, you will want to pair it with a keyboard, and Xiaomi has a very premium one that unfortunately, looks and feels like a direct knockoff of Apple's Magic Keyboard.
Xiaomi's keyboard Ben Sin
The Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra keyboard looks an awful lot like the Magic Keyboard Ben Sin
From the way the keyboard props up the tablet, to the hinge design, to the aluminum base that wraps around the keys, it is nearly identical to Apple's Magic Keyboard. I wish Xiaomi had changed up something, even a different paint job.
But, once you get over the lack of originality, the keyboard is tremendous. Keys have excellent travel of nearly 1.5mm and are evenly spaced. The trackpad is also the best trackpad I've tested among Android tablets -- precise and with satisfying haptics.
The Pad 7 Ultra Ben Sin
Xiaomi's multitasking system is also excellent -- you can run apps in split screen or resizable floating windows, making it an excellent work machine.
This tablet is only sold in China for now, retailing at 5,700 yuan ($793) to 6,700 yuan ($933). This is for 12GB+256GB storage and 16GB+1TB storage, respectively.
The Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra is a tremendous feat of engineering showing Xiaomi is able to produce high level hardware, including the silicon.