Xiaomi Pad 6 may ditch Qualcomm for a MediaTek chip, launch likely in August

Xiaomi may have begun working on its next tablet now that the launch of the Xiaomi Pad 5 in India is done and dusted. A new report has claimed that the Chinese company is gearing up to launch the successor of the Xiaomi Pad 5, which will be called the Xiaomi Pad 6. The launch might take place in China first, but a separate report has suggested that Xiaomi may not limit the release to its home market and launch the Pad 6 in global markets.

A Xiaomiui report said the Xiaomi Pad 6 will be the next product in the company’s tablet lineup and arrive sometime in August in China. The launch timeline is not clearly stated, but there are two ways that point to an August release, per the report.

First would be the listing of the tablet for the certificate, hinting that the launch may not be far away. According to tipster Mukul Sharma, the Xiaomi Pad 6 has been certified on the Eurasian Economic Union’s certification website, which indicates a go-ahead from the regulator for release in respective markets. The second way would be decoding the model number of the Xiaomi Pad 6. The EEC listing mentions 22081283G as the model number, wherein the first four digits represent the approximate launch date. Hence, 2208 accordingly should mean August 2022.

The Xiaomi Pad 6 may also be the first in the lineup to use a MediaTek processor, the report said. Xiaomi has so far used Qualcomm processors on its flagship tablets, but the next one in the lineup could be different. If true, the decision to go with a MediaTek processor will not make a difference to your experience as long as it belongs to the same performance level.

The report also added that Xiaomi may be planning to launch at least four tablets this year. Four models — L81, L81A, L82, and L83 — have been spotted already, but not all of them will have the Xiaomi branding. The report said that one of these could be a Redmi tablet, but the exact name is not clear. Similarly, the name of the remaining three models that will likely bear the Xiaomi moniker is also not clear.

For now, the Xiaomi Pad 5 has managed to create some noise in the Indian market. Launched last month, the Xiaomi Pad 5 comes as a rival to the Apple iPad Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8, both of which are priced higher. The new premium tablet from Xiaomi starts at Rs 26,999 and for that money, you get a 2.5K display with Dolby Vision, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 processor, support for a stylus, and a fast-charging battery.