OnePlus Pad 2 just tipped for major performance upgrade

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The next OnePlus tablet could be powered by Snapdragon

OnePlus Pad
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The OnePlus Pad is the best Android tablet you can buy right now. While that isn’t saying much, OnePlus still made a tablet capable of rivalling similarly-priced iPads, which is definitely no small feat. The good news is that the next generation OnePlus Pad may be even better — thanks to an upgraded chipset.

According to leaker Max Jambor, the OnePlus Pad 2 could arrive later this year, and come packing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. That’s quite a big leap up, considering the original Pad is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000. Our experience with the Pad proved that the Dimensity 9000 was more than up to the task, but there’s still a reason that Snapdragon chips rule the roost.

In our testing the Dimensity 9000 performed pretty well against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 — though it wasn’t a clear cut winner. It scored considerably less on a single-core Geekbench 5 test and only slightly better on the multi-core test. Likewise it had a lower score with 3D Mark Wild Life Original Unlimited and was slower completing a video transcoding test on Adobe Premiere Rush.

It also struggled against the Apple A14 Bionic in the iPad 10th gen. Considering both those chips debuted in 2021 and 2020, respectively, it’s clear that the OnePlus Pad could have been better. 

Considering how smooth and fast the OnePlus Pad was before, the OnePlus Tab 2 could be incredibly once Snapdragon’s latest flagship. It also means that the OnePlus Pad 2 could take advantage of the chip's AI optimizations, which have already been put to good use on phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 and the OnePlus 12.

Provided OnePlus plays the rest of its cards right, it could make the best Android tablet even better. Plus, with Jambor also claiming that the OnePlus Pad 2 will arrive in the second half of this year, we don’t have too long to wait before we find out just what the tablet can handle.

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Tom Pritchard
Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.