5 Chinese tablets capable of competing with iPads

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Apple makes what some consider to be the best tablets you can buy. Its tablets are known for their powerful performance, excellent design, and solid build quality. But even though they clearly deviate from hardware experience to software experience, iPads are expensive, with the cheapest model, the 11th generation iPad, starting at $349 for a Wi-Fi-only variant. However, while iPads may be leading the tablet market, Apple isn’t the only game in town. There are other companies that make tablets, and some in China make great products that can give Apple iPads a run for their money.

These tablets may not be officially sold in the United States, but just because they aren’t doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We’ve reviewed several tablets made by Apple, including the iPad Pro M5 and iPad Air M3, as well as many other tablets from Chinese brands. Through this experience, we have identified five tablets from Chinese brands that are fully capable of competing with iPads in terms of price and overall value proposition. Further details on our selection process can be found at the end of the article in the methodology section.

The Nubia Pad Pro launched in 2025, first in the company’s home country of China, then internationally a month later. This tablet starts at $420 for the base model with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage, making it cheaper than an 11th generation iPad with similar storage. Additionally, there is a mid-range model priced at $490 that comes with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, and if you need a more powerful option, you can get the high-end configuration offering 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage for $600. All variants of the tablet sport a 10.9-inch IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 1800 x 2880 pixels. Under the hood is a 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, powered by a 10,100mAh battery with support for 66W fast charging.

At its starting price of $420, the Nubia Pad Pro directly competes with Apple’s 11th generation iPad, which starts at $349. The iPad comes with an 11-inch 60Hz IPS display with a resolution of 1,640 x 2,360 pixels, a 4nm Apple A16 Bionic chip, 6GB of memory, which is 128, 256, or 512GB of storage, and a 7,698mAh battery with 45W charging. While the base 11th generation iPad is cheaper, The Nubia Pad Pro has higher storage and a better display with a high refresh rate for smooth scrolling and higher pixel density.

The MatePad Pro 12.2 targets the same flagship tablet market as the iPad Pro and features high-end specs to match its caliber. On the front is a 12.2-inch OLED display with a smooth 144Hz refresh rate, which can reach up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness. Under the hood is a Kirin T92A processor that you can configure with 12 or 16 GB of memory and 256, 512 GB or 1 TB of storage. It is powered by a 10,100mAh battery that supports wired charging speeds of up to 100W via USB-C. The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2 retails in the UK for £799.99 for the 12/512GB model, which works out to around $1,077 based on current prices.

That price puts it in direct competition with Apple’s 11-inch iPad Pro, which starts at $999 and features an 11-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, a resolution of 1,668 x 2,420 pixels, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. The iPad comes with Apple’s M5 processor, 12 or 16 GB of memory, between 256 GB and 2 TB of storage, and an 8,160 mAh battery. The iPad Pro may be powerful, but the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2 gives you a screen with a higher pixel density, more storage for less, and a bigger battery. It’s also a better value proposition because it includes an external keyboard with a built-in protective case, similar to Apple’s Magic Keyboard, which is usually a separate purchase starting at $299 for the iPad Pro.

We’ve reviewed Xiaomi’s Pad 8 Pro and we think it’s a great Android tablet. Under the hood of this tablet, you get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the silicon maker’s flagship processor of 2025 that powers devices like Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra. This processor is associated with 8, 12 or 16 GB of memory and 128/256/512 GB of storage. There is a 9,200 mAh battery with support for 67 W wired charging. The display measures 11.2 inches and uses an IPS LCD panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate, HDR support, a resolution of 2,136 x 3,200 pixels, and a peak brightness of 800 nits. With a starting price of $645, the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro is well-positioned to take on Apple’s 11-inch iPad Air. As a reminder, the 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599.

The Air comes with an 11-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1640 x 2360 pixels, a refresh rate of 60Hz, and a brightness of 500 nits. Apple’s offering is powered by an M4 chip with 12GB of memory and a minimum of 128GB of storage, configurable up to 1TB. The iPad uses a 7,606mAh battery. The Xiaomi is a fairly powerful tablet that can compete with the iPad Air. If you’re worried about weight, you shouldn’t be, because the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro is lightweight, weighing just 0.05 pounds more than the Air. Aside from weight, it beats the Air in some areas, like screen and fast charging, and costs almost the same.

Aptly named for its size, the Xiaomi Pad Mini comes with an 8.8-inch 165Hz IPS LCD panel with HDR support (Dolby Vision and HDR10) and can reach 700 nits of HBM brightness (high brightness mode). This screen offers a pixel density of 403, more than that of the 11-inch iPad Pro. Under the hood is the Mediatek Dimensity 9400+ chipset and a 7,500 mAh battery with 67W wired fast charging. You can buy this tablet in two memory and storage configurations: 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage or 12 GB RAM + 512 GB storage. As the name suggests, this tablet is aimed at people who prefer a device that is relatively small and easy to carry. This is the same market that the iPad mini is targeting, and Chinese tech company Xiaomi hasn’t been afraid to take a few notes from Apple’s playbook in terms of name as well as design.

The iPad mini features an 8.3-inch 60Hz IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1488 x 2266 pixels, resulting in a density of 327 pixels per inch, and is powered by Apple’s A17 Pro chip. The iPad has a smaller 5,078 mAh battery and comes in Space Gray, Blue, Purple, and Starlight, while the Xiaomi Pad Mini comes in Gray and Purple colors. The Pad Mini is competitively priced at $429, cheaper than Apple’s iPad mini, which starts at $499, but Xiaomi’s tablet isn’t officially available in the United States. For comparison, the Pad Mini offers a better screen, a bigger battery, and is even cheaper than the iPad mini.

Another capable tablet from a Chinese company that can compete with Apple’s iPads is the Honor MagicPad 3 Pro 12.3. It is an Android tablet powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a powerful mid-range chipset, paired with 8, 12, or 16 GB of memory and 256 or 512 GB of storage. On the front is a 12.3-inch OLED display with a refresh rate of 165Hz, a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, and a resolution of 1,920 x 3,000 pixels. It supports pen input like most modern tablets and offers a 10,100mAh battery with 66W fast charging support. This tablet comes with MagicOS 10 out of the box, based on Android 16. The Honor MagicPad 3 Pro 12.3 starts at around $591 in China for the entry-level model with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage.

That puts it squarely in iPad Air M4 territory, which costs a minimum of $599. The iPad Air M4 comes with an 11-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1640 x 2360 pixels, a 7606 mAh battery, 12 GB of memory and multiple storage options, starting from 128 GB to 1 TB. Although it costs almost the same as the iPad Air, the MagicPad 3 Pro 12.3 gives you a better OLED panel with brightness and pixel density higher, as well as a larger battery. And despite a 12.3-inch screen and a larger battery, the Honor tablet is still lighter than the iPad Air.

All the tablets on this list met one key requirement: they are made by Chinese technology companies. On top of that, we’ve selected tablets that sell for roughly the same prices as the various iPads in Apple’s current offerings in the iPad, iPad mini, iPad Pro, and iPad Air lines. We also looked for tablets that offer competitive value for money, and we compared each model to what it competes with in Apple’s lineup to clearly explain why we think it’s a compelling alternative. For each model, we’ve also highlighted some of the areas where it outperforms the iPad model in its price range.