Xiaomi just launched the Pad 9 Pro Max in China, and it's the company's most audacious tablet move yet: the first device powered entirely by its own silicon, the Xring O3 chip. At 4,799 yuan (about $715), it's positioned as a direct challenge to Apple's iPad Pro 13 with M5, which starts at $1,199. The price gap alone is startling, but the real question is whether Xiaomi's homegrown processor can actually deliver.
The Xring O3 is a 10-core, 3nm chip built exclusively from high-performance cores—two clocked at 4.35GHz, four at 3.68GHz, and four at 3.15GHz—paired with a 16-core Mali-G2-Ultra GPU. Xiaomi claims the chip achieves CPU and GPU performance approaching Apple's M5, with AnTuTu scores exceeding 5.61 million points. That's a bold claim, especially given that Geekbench multi-core results hover around 14,000 points, which is strong but not quite desktop-chip territory. Independent testing will tell the real story, but on paper, this is Xiaomi's most serious attempt yet to compete with Apple and Qualcomm on its own terms.
The hardware backing that chip is impressive. The Pad 9 Pro Max features a 13.3-inch 3.4K display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, 144Hz refresh rate, and 1,000 nits peak brightness. It's absurdly thin at 5.67mm and weighs just 645 grams despite packing a 12,000mAh battery with 120W fast charging. The tablet also includes a clever DP-in feature via USB-C, letting it function as a secondary 3.4K monitor for laptops or gaming consoles. Add Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, eight speakers, and support for up to 16GB of RAM, and you've got a spec sheet that genuinely rivals premium tablets.
The catch? Xiaomi hasn't announced any plans for a US, UK, or broader international launch. That's typical for the company's most experimental hardware, but it's frustrating given how competitive this pricing is. The top-tier 16GB/1TB configuration with an anti-glare matte display costs 7,899 yuan (around $1,176)—still cheaper than the equivalent iPad Pro.
Whether the Xring O3 can truly hang with Apple's M5 in sustained workloads, gaming, and video editing remains to be seen. But Xiaomi is clearly serious about building its own chip ecosystem, and the Pad 9 Pro Max is the first tablet that makes that ambition feel credible. If it ever ships globally, Apple should pay attention.
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