OnePlus Pad 3 review: A heavy-hitter with practical charms

By Nadeem Sarwar Published September 2, 2025

The OnePlus Pad 3 chases the same territory as the iPad Air, and if you are not averse to the idea of using a giant Android slate, this is the one to pick for a variety of reasons. Priced under the $600 mark (an official US launch is awaited), this tablet quite literally grows beyond expectations. 

OnePlus’ tablet offers a terrific all-metal kit that is slim, clean, and loaded with meaningful hardware perks. The eight-unit speaker array is fantastic, the battery life also delivers on its marathon promise, and support for blazing-fast 80W further sweetens things up. 

If you’re eyeing top-tier performance, the flagship Qualcomm chip at its heart will ensure that you can multitask to your heart’s content, and play games without worrying about any FPS or graphics quality snags. The pixel-dense 165Hz display will serve as a nice partner for your streaming and gaming adventures. 

On the software side, OxygenOS 15 will offer a healthy dose of meaningful features that go beyond vanilla Android. And if you’ve got a OnePlus phone in your pocket, you can enjoy a few Apple ecosystem-like cross-device perks, too. 

There are a few hiccups, though. You don’t get a fingerprint sensor, native cellular connectivity (though it can seamlessly share 5G signal from your phone for handling calls), lack of any dust/water ingress protection, and the laggardness of Android for large screens. 

The OnePlus Pad 3 leaves a nice first impression with its all-metal build. It’s unabashedly big and bold. But that’s what you’re here for, right? It certainly is going to leave you with exhausted arms, if you plan on long touch-screen gaming sessions. 

At 675 grams, it’s about 8% heavier than the iPad Air. It’s slightly wider, but shorter and thinner than its Apple counterpart. But as far as the build quality goes, the OnePlus tablet appears to have the upper hand. Apple’s all-metal chassis is clean and sharp, but the OnePlus tablet has slightly more rounded edges, and the matte paintjob on top just feels better to touch. 

It looks more appealing to the eyes, but be prepared for smudges all across the rear shell. Now, let’s talk about the display. It’s a 13.2-inch (3392 x 2400) panel that is noticeably sharper than the iPad Air, while offering a 50% higher peak brightness of 900 nits. The main attraction, however, is the fluidity. 

Unlike the 60Hz panel on its Apple competition, you get a 165Hz panel on the OnePlus Pad 3, with a touch sampling rate of  ​540Hz to go with it. At this asking price, I don’t have too many complaints with the screen’s color reproduction or viewing angles, though the angular color shift is apparent.

What troubled me the most was the reflective panel, which produces a lot of background glare, both indoors and outdoors. To avoid it, I had to keep the brightness levels cranked above the 80% mark at all times, which was taxing on the battery. Thankfully, the camera is positioned in landscape mode and supports face unlock. Unfortunately, there is no fingerprint sensor on this tablet, which is a bummer.

Another pleasant surprise is the audio hardware, which is simply terrific. There are four tweeters and an equal number of bass units, which combine to produce rich sound with good directional balance. Compared to the iPad Airit sounds slightly more refined, especially at instrumental separation, and doesn’t tear the soundstage either. When paired with wireless earbuds, you can engage in hi-res listening, thanks to LDAC and LHDC codec support.

There is little to worry about the performance of the OnePlus Pad 3. It draws power from the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, the best silicon you can find on an Android device out there. At the baseline, you get 12GB of RAM, which is better than the iPad Pro, but you can climb up to 16GB on the higher storage variant. 

Unlike Apple, OnePlus sets the entry-point storage at 256GB, and doubles it for the top-shelf trim. As far as the daily outing of this massive slab goes, well, it’s fast. I haven’t run into a scenario where I could perceive stutters or lags. On top of it, OnePlus’ recent work with refining the animations and the UI engine powering OxygenOS makes all interactions feel snappier than ever. 

I could run three apps in split-screen mode without any hiccups, even if one of them was a game. Digging into the games, I handed the reins over to my brother, who pushed PUBG’s mobile variant at a cool 120fps and didn’t complain about any apparent stutters or lags that could ruin the experience. Things were also fine with emulated titles.

In Genshin Impact, with the render resolution set to the highest quality, the game delivered a fairly stable 60 fps experience. What surprised me the most, again, was the temperature. In my pushing it at Devil May Cry, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Diablo Immortal, the tablet never climbed above 95 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s a better outing even compared to the M4 iPad Pro. 

The benchmark results were in line with what you get from other devices with the same silicon. But the tablet again managed to surprise with its stability. I  have never seen such high scores across the Android or iPad ecosystem. On the ray-traced 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme Stress test, the frame stability came in at a stunning 99.8%, far higher than any tablet I have seen so far. 

Even more impressive was the fact that the temperature simply did not climb at all, and frame rate recovery was also instantaneous. The 34,857 millimeters-square vapor chamber cooling system fitted inside the tablet does a fantastic job of dissipating heat across the metallic chassis. You won’t feel the tablet heating up in your hands even after 30-40 minutes of gaming. Overall, if performance future-proofing is your key concern, this one will serve you just fine. 

OnePlus has tried its best to go beyond the vanilla Android tablet experience with OxygenOS. I love the Canvas experience that lets you run three apps side by side and even allows file drag and drop between two app windows. The sidebar continues to be a neat touch for letting users quickly access frequently used apps and utilities. 

There’s also a smattering of AI features that power translations, writing experiences, and more. Then there are a bunch of ecosystem features that are experienced with a OnePlus phone by your side. For example, you can cast your phone’s screen, just like the iPhone Mirroring system. 

You can also share 5G mobile signal without hotspot hassles, one-touch transmission for file sharing, and more. Unfortunately, OnePlus can only go so far, even though I wish the company also built something like Samsung’s DeX for a more work-friendly experience on a tablet that is as big and speedy as the Pad 3. 

But it’s the OS itself that disappoints. Android is still terrible for large screens. And if you compare it against what Apple has accomplished with iPadOS 26, it just feels wonky and half-baked, despite all the momentum Google kicked off years ago with Android 12L. And that diminishes the appeal of the OnePlus Pad 3, far more than any of its hardware aspects. 

For a tablet this big, we need better app windowing and tiling controls, unlike the current approach. Even Google’s own apps barely offer anything different compared to their mobile versions. On a tablet that’s as fast and offers a 13-inch canvas, it’s frustrating to live with the limitations of a mobile environment while paired to a keyboard without non-standardized controls and shortcuts.

Even when trying to force certain websites and web apps into desktop mode, things simply don’t work smoothly. There are reload issues, random crashes, and scaling problems here and there. The lack of industry-standard pro-grade apps such as DaVinci Resolve, a counterpart to Procreate, and 3D modeling applications also harms the cause of Android tablets. 

I wish Google offered an option to somehow boot ChromeOS, or even run a fully cloud-native approach, where you can at least get some semblance of a desktop-grade workflow. I would even take a proper desktop-based Chrome experience. Ultimately, this tablet’s workhorse credentials are harmed more by Google than by OnePlus.

The problem seeps even into the physical keyboard experience. It’s nowhere close to the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad, but that can be forgiven given the price disparity. The key press simply feels less refined, even though the deck offers plenty of travel, the keycaps are well-spaced out, and there’s a full row of function keys. 

But they are on the back foot by the sheer lack of familiarity with a desktop ecosystem. On a lot of occasions, I was confused whether I should open the instructions page in the Settings app to look for keyboard shortcuts or just take the plunge. Will the Windows shortcuts work? Is it the same as ChromeOS? But then, I am not familiar with ChromeOS as much as I am with macOS or Windows. 

This is where iPadOS 26 feels far superior, not just in terms of looks, but in the realm of functional familiarity, too.  Apple has kept it as close to macOS as possible, both at the hardware and software levels. Google needs to draw a baseline where Android tablets that meet a certain baseline for performance offer a more refined and functionally rewarding experience. One where you can get some real work done. 

OnePlus has equipped its latest tablet with a massive 12,140 mAh battery, which is claimed to last around 18 hours of video watching time and six hours of gaming. In my most recent adventure that entailed a screen-on time of just over eight hours, the tablet consumed about 90% of its battery juice. That’s almost in the same league as a Windows laptop, and noticeably better than the iPad Pro. 

My typical usage involved juggling between Slack, Asana, Trello, Teams, Docs, and lots of Chrome usage. Additionally, there were roughly two hours of music playback, a 40-minute documentary film viewing, and some battering in Devil May Cry’s mobile port.

If you are predominantly planning to watch videos, this tablet should easily last you the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy without running for the charging socket. And I am talking about the extended cuts, because that’s what people of culture watch. 

While the battery life doesn’t disappoint, I highly recommend putting a matte screen protector on the screen. Why? Well, to avoid the glare problem, you have to keep it above the 80% brightness level for the most part, which hammers the per-charge mileage. With a layer applied on top, you can peacefully work with the brightness levels set lower on the scale and keep the battery running for longer. 

Talking about charging, this is one of the rare breeds of tablets that charge nearly as fast as a laptop. The OnePlus Pad 3 supports 80W charging, and it goes from empty to 100% juice at almost 90 minutes on the clock. I just love this perk. Oh, by the way, the SUPERVOOC power adapter comes bundled in the retail box. 

The OnePlus Pad 3 gets a lot of things right, and even exceeds expectations from the premium you are going to pay for it. The large 165Hz  display is in a league of its own, and fits in fairly well with fantastic audio hardware. 

It also manages to impress with a large battery that supports segment-leading 80W fast charging, and well-executed thermal hardware that keeps it cool even when engaged in intense gaming sessions. OnePlus’ approach to the memory situation is also far more generous than Apple’s or Samsung’s.

The Qualcomm silicon powering it is also top-tier and handles even the most demanding workflows with ease. Plus, that all-metal design is fairly well done, as well. Where it misses the mark is the inherent limitations of Android spanning a large canvas. 

OxygenOS 15 does a decent job with a few exclusive perks, but there’s still a lot of ground to cover. I’m looking at you, Google. But if you’re planning to buy a large tablet solely on hardware merits and feel conscious about the asking price, the OnePlus Pad 3 is, pound-for-pound, the best large-screen tablet out there. 

The OnePlus Pad 3 is a solid package, but it’s not quite the do-it-all tablet champion. If you’re looking to explore the options, there are a few worth exploring, starting with the… 

The iPad Air is at the top of most buyers’ lists for obvious reasons. It also comes in a matching 13-inch size, flaunts a minimalist all-metal build that comes in a few refreshing color options, and a solid pair of stylus and keyboard. 

Powered by Apple’s M3 silicon, it is one of the fastest tablets out there and will serve you just fine for the next few years without running into any serious performance bottlenecks. The speakers, battery, and display assembly also combine to offer a balanced work-n-play experience. 

The real gem here is the iPadOS software, which is incredibly polished and offers a far richer selection of well-designed and beautifully optimized apps for the iPad. Plus, Apple’s long-term software support is another core reason for considering the latest iPad Air. 

Where is lags behind is the slow charging, 60Hz panel, and the usual set of limitations with the closed Apple software ecosystem.

Another fantastic alternative is the Galaxy Tab S10 FE+, which also offers a 13.1-inch screen with a 90Hz refresh rate and matching brightness levels. This all-metal slab starts at 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which is not quite at the same level as its OnePlus counterpart. 

It draws power from an in-house Samsung Exynos 1580 processor, which is not quite as fast as the Qualcomm chip inside the OnePlus Pad 3, but still fairly powerful. The battery capacity is also roughly 20% lower, and charging speeds max out at 45W, which isn’t too shabby.

Where it shines is the IP68-rated build and a dedicated cellular version on the table. Samsung’s software, especially DeX, is also fairly rewarding for work. Moreover, Samsung’s commitment to providing seven years of OS and security updates is more than double compared to that of OnePlus’ commitment. 

Just keep in mind that if you’re planning to pick a configuration that matches the memory figures of the OnePlus Pad 3, and need cellular connectivity, as well, the bill is going to be a lot higher.