The OnePlus Pad 4 genuinely challenges the idea of needing a laptop for everyday tasks. Here’s our review.
OnePlus Pad 4 price in India starts at Rs. 59,999
The new OnePlus Pad 4 is the brand's most ambitious tablet yet. It combines a flagship chipset, a large high-refresh-rate display, and a suite of AI-powered tools into a single device that aims to show OnePlus is clearly targeting users who want more than just media consumption. However, the tablet arrives in a market where meaningful upgrades are increasingly becoming incremental while prices continue to skyrocket. Here, the OnePlus Pad 4 aims to position itself as a flagship-grade slab that trades incrementalism for ambition.
The OnePlus Pad 4 starts at Rs. 54,999 for the 8GB + 256GB variant, going up to Rs. 59,999 for the 12GB + 512GB model. OnePlus bundles the Stylo Pro for a limited time, and a smart keyboard is available separately, which significantly enhances its productivity appeal.
As I mentioned in my first impressions, the OnePlus Pad 4 retains a sleek and premium design language. It features a metal unibody chassis that feels solid yet relatively lightweight for its size. At just under 6mm thickness, the tablet is impressively slim. Its overall weight distribution makes it comfortable to hold in both landscape and portrait orientations.
Available in three colourways, the Dune Glow finish on our unit looks elegant and subtly shifts tones in the light. It has a soft, satin-like feel, but despite its matte surface, it attracts a fair share of fingerprints and smudges.
The camera module is positioned in the top-right corner when held in landscape orientation. It is housed within a distinctive pill-shaped island that includes a single lens and a flash. Although the deco is slightly raised, it doesn't cause significant wobble when the tablet rests on a flat surface.
You also get a POGO pin connector on the bottom edge for the smart keyboard, though we did not receive the accessory for this review.
The 13.2-inch 3.4K display is one of the highlights of the OnePlus Pad 4. It offers excellent sharpness and vibrant colours. The 144Hz refresh rate ensures smooth scrolling and animations, while I also found the 7:5 aspect ratio particularly useful for productivity tasks like reading documents and multitasking. Content consumption is equally enjoyable, thanks to Dolby Vision support and accurate colour reproduction.
OnePlus claims the panel covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut, making it a viable tool for photo editing on the go. The panel's ability to handle highlights and shadows and maintain deep black levels was impressive, too.
While the peak brightness of 1,000 nits is adequate for most indoor scenarios, there were occasions where it struggled slightly under very harsh, direct light. It is quite reflective as well.
The OnePlus Pad 4 is the first tablet in India to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, delivering excellent performance across the board. Apps load quickly, and even with multiple windows open, the tablet rarely feels sluggish. In our benchmark tests, the Pad 4 registered impressive single and multi-core scores of 3,356 and 10,269 points on Geekbench. This is on par with the flagship smartphones powered by the same SoC that we have tested in recent months.
We also tried our hand at a couple of graphics-intensive titles like Genshin Impact, Grid: Legends, and Bright Memory: Infinite, and the tablet's performance was impressive. The Pad 4 delivered consistent fps without any noticeable frame skipping. I did not experience any significant thermal throttling during extended gaming sessions, thanks to the upgraded vapour-chamber cooling system.
Another big upgrade is in terms of the audio experience. OnePlus has included an eight-speaker setup, arranged symmetrically. It delivers a rich and immersive soundstage. The audio felt full and stayed consistent when watching action sequences or listening to podcasts. The experience stays immersive even when you rotate the tablet, thanks to software that automatically switches channels based on orientation.
While competing tablets like the recently introduced Xiaomi Pad 8 also promise an equally impressive performance, OxygenOS 16 is where the OnePlus Pad 4 really differentiates itself. It is well-tailored for the large canvas. The standout feature is the updated Open Canvas, which now supports up to five simultaneous windows; you can open three active in a tiled view and two as floating windows.
The multitasking system is further supported by an ever-present taskbar, quick app switching, and intuitive gestures. You can drag apps from the dock into split-screen, resize windows freely, and snap them into place. Floating windows can be minimised to bubbles and recalled instantly, helping maintain workflow continuity. Another area where meaningful improvements have been made is file management. The interface now supports multi-column layouts, better sorting, previews, and drag-and-drop across apps. All of these changes make it feel closer to a desktop file explorer.
A niche, but really useful feature is cross-device integration. You can use the Pad 4 as a secondary display for a compatible smartphone or PC, share a keyboard and mouse across devices, and even sync notifications and clipboard content. This ecosystem play added real value, especially since I was already using a OnePlus phone.
With the Pad 4, OnePlus has introduced a new stylus called OnePlus Stylo Pro. It offers up to 16,000 levels of pressure sensitivity and is more responsive for both writing and drawing than the Stylo we tried with the OnePlus Pad Go 2. OnePlus includes two interchangeable tips: a high-friction tip for writing, which mimics the feel of a pen on paper, and a low-friction tip for smoother sketching. There is no “correct” one to pick, and it all depends on your personal preference. I opted for the former.
The stylus supports gesture controls such as double-tap and swipe, which can be customised as quick shortcuts. There are also features such as handwriting-to-text conversion and real-time annotation that work reliably and enhance the tablet's overall productivity.
However, the Stylo Pro is not perfect. While it performs well, the ecosystem of optimised apps is still somewhat limited compared to what you'd find on the iPad. Also, there is a slight learning curve to fully utilise its capabilities.
OnePlus has equipped the Pad 4 with a massive 13,380mAh battery. It delivers excellent endurance. The tablet can last almost two days of work and entertainment. Even with heavy multitasking and casual gaming, the battery drain is well managed, which is impressive given its large, high-res screen and powerful internals.
Even when it does run low, the coupled 80W charger takes it from 0 to 100 percent in about an hour and 34 minutes.
The OnePlus Pad 4 takes everything Android tablets have been trying to get right for years and brings it together in one cohesive package. It delivers excellent performance, a large and vibrant display, and a refined OxygenOS 16 experience that makes multitasking useful. Features like Open Canvas and cross-device integration add real productivity value, while the Stylo Pro enhances creativity and note-taking. Battery life is another strong point.
It's not perfect, and won't replace a laptop for everyone, but it gets closer than most. If you're looking for a premium Android tablet that balances work and entertainment effectively, the OnePlus Pad 4 is an easy recommendation. You can consider the Xiaomi Pad 8 (review) as an alternative.
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