With the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro, the Chinese manufacturer is competing against the Apple iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S9. On the plus side, the Android tablet boasts a high-resolution 12.4-inch display with a frame rate of 144 Hz, a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, modern features and a long-lasting battery. Our test clarifies whether the company has succeeded in creating a similarly convincing product as the Xiaomi 14 Ultra (our test).
Technical data
| The name | Pad 6S Pro |
| Dimensions | 278.7 mm x 191.58 mm x 6.26 mm |
| Weight | 590 g |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 |
| Memory | Memory: 8 GB / 12 GB RAM Flash memory: 256 GB / 512 GB |
| Display | 12.4 inch; LCD display; 3,048 x 2,032 pixels (294 ppi); 144 Hz (adaptive); up to 900 cd/m² brightness |
| Camera | Rear camera: main camera (50 MP) depth camera (2 MP); front camera: selfie cam (32 MP) |
| Battery | 10.000 mAh, 120 W charging power |
| Audio | 6 speakers (Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos) 4 microphones |
| Operating system | HyperOS; Android 14 |
| Special features | Xiaomi interconnectivity; NFC tags; AI features; Wi-Fi 7; Bluetooth 5.3 (including LDAC, LC3 and Auracast) |
| Price | € 599.00 * |
Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro test: Scope of delivery, design and workmanship
- elegant and high-quality design
- impeccable workmanship
- 120-watt power supply included
The compact white box of the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro does not offer too much space for accessories. In addition to the tablet itself, the manufacturer only includes a 120-watt power adapter with a matching USB-A to USB-C charging cable, which rounds off the scope of delivery along with a quick start guide.
Unfortunately, unlike Samsung, for example, there is no stylus in the packaging. The brand new Focus Pen is also expensive for the manufacturer at around 100 euros. In addition to the stylus, pre-order customers were also able to secure the practical touchpad keyboard case as a free gift.
The tablet itself picks up on the design language of the current Xiaomi smartphones and features a flat frame, on the back of which the square camera layout, which is strongly based on the Xiaomi 14, is immediately noticeable. To the left of it, in landscape format, we find three magnetic pins next to the Xiaomi imprint, with which the tablet is docked into the cover for power supply.
At the top, the manufacturer has installed the power button next to the speakers, which also serves as a fingerprint sensor and is easy to reach on the right edge. On the right, next to two microphones, is the volume rocker on the upper edge, as well as the magnetic holder for the Focus Pen.
At the bottom, we find more speakers and the USB-C port for charging, while the left side is left empty. The front is of course dominated by the display, which takes up 88.5 percent of the casing with equally large edges on all sides and houses the 32 MP front camera on the right edge.
With a size of 278.7 mm x 191.58 mm x 6.26 mm and a weight of 590 grams, the Xiaomi tablet is comparable to the HUAWEI MatePad Pro 13.2″ (our test) and, for example, significantly narrower than the iPad Pro 12.9″.
In general, the design of the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro in the color Graphite Gray is very appealing and, like the build quality, looks extremely high-quality. The anodized surface and silver accents look particularly elegant.
Good display, but unfortunately no OLED
- pleasantly bright LC display; 3:2 format
- 144 Hz; high resolution
- good contrasts and colors
The Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro has a screen diagonal of 12.4 inches, which is the same size as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, for example. However, the Xiaomi tablet has an advantage in terms of resolution, which at 3,048 x 2,032 pixels is significantly higher than that of Samsung.
The display scores with a refresh rate of 144 Hertz, which is an absolute added value, especially when viewing fast content and games. The frame rate can be adaptively adjusted to the current content or optionally set to 60 Hz, 90 Hz or 144 Hz.
At its peak, the display is 900 cd/m² bright, while the typical brightness of 700 cd/m² also allows for excellent readability in direct sunlight. Although the reflective screen is not protected against reflections.
However, the biggest drawback of the display is the built-in technology. Unlike Samsung or HUAWEI, the Chinese manufacturer does not use an (AM)OLED display here, but LCD technology. As a result, the black tones are not quite as dark and the contrasts not quite as deep as with OLED panels.
Nevertheless, I am extremely impressed with the picture quality. The contrast ratio of 1,400:1 is above the standard value and the rich colors are also pleasing. The Pad 6S Pro is capable of displaying 68.7 billion colors in 12-bit. Dolby Vision and HDR are supported, while an adaptive reading mode reduces the amount of blue light.
As is typical for the manufacturer, you can influence the image and colors in great detail in the menu and set different modes or color spaces or adjust the color temperature manually. In P3 mode, the colors stand out pleasantly without appearing oversaturated, while they are somewhat reduced in the “Original color PRO” and “sRGB” modes.
Impressive performance and features
- fast SoC with 12 GB RAM
- ample system memory
- Top equipment
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, last year’s flagship processor, is under the hood of the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro and promises outstanding performance. It offers clock speeds of up to 3.19 GHz and is therefore slightly lower than its counterpart in the current Samsung tablets in the Galaxy Tab S series.
However, Xiaomi provides it with 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, which can also borrow a further 6 GB from the generous 512 GB (non-expandable) UFS 4.0 system memory. Nevertheless, the tablet ranks behind the Samsung models in terms of performance, albeit only just.
Nevertheless, the performance is really excellent across the board. This applies equally to CPU tasks as well as general workloads and current games, meaning that the Pad 6S Pro can handle even demanding tasks with ease. The tablet also masters these tasks under continuous load without heating up noticeably. The cooling system therefore does an impeccable job.
| Benchmark | Result |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme | 3.370 pts. |
| 3DMark Solar Bay | 4.791 pts. |
| GFXBench Aztec Ruins High Tier | 51.7 fps |
| GFXBench Manhattan | 109.5 fps |
| GFXBench CarChase | 41.7 fps |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 5.096 pts. |
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 1.923 pts. |
| Geekbench 6 GPU | 7.254 pts. |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 16.947 pts. |
| JetStream 2.0 | 191.287 pts. |
The features of the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro also leave nothing to be desired. Here, the manufacturer relies on modern standards such as dual-band Wi-Fi 7, which scores with excellent speeds and Bluetooth 5.3 including support for the high-resolution codecs LDAX, LHDC 5.0 and LC3, as well as the Auracast feature.
A total of six loudspeakers are installed, which support Dolby Atmos and are completely convincing in terms of sound. In combination with the display, movies, series and videos become an absolute pleasure.
The cameras on a tablet are of course of secondary importance, but the 50 MP main camera also delivers really good pictures, while the 32 MP selfie camera delivers good results. Videos from the rear camera also look excellent thanks to 4K resolution at 60 fps, while the quality of the front camera is fine with a maximum of 1080p and 30 fps.
What is missing, however, is an LTE or even 5G option. Xiaomi does not even offer these. The Pad 6S Pro is only available as a WLAN version. So if you need a mobile internet connection, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Practical test, software, UI and more
- HyperOS including Android 14
- practical functions with Xiaomi smartphones
- Notebook mode; keyboard cover and stylus are impressive
Like the manufacturer’s current smartphones, the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro also relies on HyperOS based on Android 14. I am a big fan of the interface, which in my opinion combines the advantages of Android with the control center of iOS and some practical functions.
Fortunately, the tablet comes with almost no bloatware, and unwanted apps can be easily uninstalled. The interface is clearly structured and intuitive to use. Another particularly practical feature is the ability to display up to four windows simultaneously, which can be adjusted and moved separately. This naturally makes multitasking particularly easy.
The collaboration with other Xiaomi devices is particularly great. In conjunction with a smartphone such as the 14 Ultra, for example, images, files or documents can be easily transferred between the devices. To do this, simply touch the NFC area of the tablet.
If the tablet and smartphone are paired, information from the clipboard of one device can also be easily transferred to the other device, while apps opened on the smartphone can also be displayed on the tablet at the touch of a button.
With the “Start screen” function, the smartphone screen can also be displayed and operated directly on the tablet. All in all, very practical functions that are very reminiscent of the Apple ecosystem in terms of implementation and variety – but can only be used if you are using a modern Xiaomi smartphone.
The situation is different with the “Workstation” mode, which always works. This transforms the Android tablet into a small laptop at the touch of a button. The bottom navigation bar is replaced by a classic taskbar, while the entire navigation is based on that of a PC or notebook.
This works perfectly in practice and of course proves to be particularly practical in combination with the keyboard cover, which quickly turns the tablet into a genuine notebook replacement. The keyboard cover attaches magnetically to the back of the tablet and is then immediately ready for use.
Despite the short travel of the keys, the keyboard scores with good and precise pressure points and an impeccable trackpad as a mouse replacement. It’s just a shame that the cover and keyboard cannot be separated, as is the case with HUAWEI. The keyboard cover is quite bulky and doubles the thickness of the tablet to 15 mm.
The Focus Pen, which is quite expensive at around 100 euros, also proves to be an excellent and very precise stylus that recognizes 8,192 pressure levels and offers a sampling rate of 240 hertz. It cuts a very good figure when writing and drawing and docks magnetically to the side of the tablet for charging.
It has a practical spotlight button with various functions. This allows the pen to be used as a laser pointer, for example. There is also a highlighter function that allows you to quickly scribble notes on the screen and a remote shutter release that takes photos or starts and stops recording when the camera app is active. Unfortunately, the highlighter function is a little imprecise, but all other features work perfectly.
The Focus Pen is also able to quickly open the Mi Canvas app by pressing the front button to take notes or to take screenshots by pressing the back button. All in all, two not exactly cheap, but high-quality and practical accessories that significantly expand the functionality of the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro.
Strong battery life in the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro
- 120 watt charging speed
- 10.000 mAh battery
- convincing runtimes
Xiaomi equips the Pad 6S Pro with a 10,000 mAh battery, which is slightly less than in the case of the Galaxy Tab S9 (10,090 mAh). Nevertheless, the battery scores points here with excellent runtimes. In the PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Benchmark, 14 hours and 23 minutes at maximum screen brightness are achieved in the end.
That is almost three times the runtime of the Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2″ with its 10,100 mAh battery. When playing a 1080p video on the web, we achieved a very good runtime of 19 hours in the test. Xiaomi also promises a standby time of 22 days, which should certainly correspond to reality. In one hour of standby, the battery value only decreased by 1 percent, so the Pad 6S Pro is quite efficient.
Charging is also extremely fast thanks to the included 120 watt power supply unit. It only takes 35 minutes for the empty battery to be fully charged again. Pretty impressive.
Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro Review: Verdict
In my opinion, the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro scores with an outstanding price-performance ratio. At an RRP of around 700 euros, the Android tablet is cheaper than many top models from other manufacturers (although of course not a bargain).
But you also get a lot in return. Starting with absolutely impeccable performance in all areas, which is also hardly throttled in the long term. Thanks to the convincing cooling system, the case does not heat up excessively.
The build quality and design also give no cause for complaint, as do the pleasantly clear speakers with a convincing maximum volume. Even the display is absolutely impressive, even though only an LCD panel is installed here. The black levels and colors are therefore not as rich as an OLED display, but Xiaomi has done a great job with the calibration. Especially as the high resolution and 144 Hertz frame rate come into their own when playing games.
All this is rounded off by modern features, excellent battery life and a unique charging speed of 120 watts, which fully recharges the battery in just 35 minutes. Working together with a Xiaomi smartphone is also unique and practical, while the Pad 6S Pro also cuts a very fine figure as a notebook replacement or for drawing with a stylus.
Although the general performance of the CPU and GPU is slightly below that of its competitors from Samsung or Apple, the price is also noticeably lower. If you are looking for a large and versatile tablet with hardly any significant weaknesses, the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro is definitely the right choice. Especially in combination with a Xiaomi smartphone, the possibilities are almost endless.
Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro
Design & Workmanship
Hardware
Multimedia
Performance
Battery Life
Value For Money
93/100
High-quality Android tablet with modern features, impressive performance and strong battery life that hardly has any flaws. Unfortunately, there is no 5G/LTE option and the display does not use OLED technology.
