Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 updates: Tablet now on sale; no major overhaul expected

A product photo of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3Xiaomi website

About three weeks ago, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 had a photo leak from China showing the different colors available for the tablet. Many believed that the new tablet would debut together with the Xiaomi Mi 6 this week. However, it seems that the device has already been launched with no noise as it has been made available since early this month. 

 Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 started to appear as available for purchase on the Chinese company's website without any announcement on April 5. The newest device is a refresh from its previous iterations, thus no major overhaul is made both to its external and internal features.

The new tablet resembles its 2015 look that sports the metal unibody design. It also comes with the same 7.9-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) screen at 1536x2048 pixel resolution.

Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 is powered by a hexacore MediaTek MT8176 processor, with two cores clocked at 2.1 GHz Cortex-A72 and four cores clocked at 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53. On the other hand, a PowerVR GX6250 is dedicated for the device's graphics processing unit (GPU).

The Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 comes with 4 GB of random access memory (RAM), along with 64 GB of internal storage with no leeway for external expansion. This came as a surprise, as its previous iteration infused a microSD slot for users who want to expand the storage space of their device.

As for its camera, the main shooter comes with 13-megapixel with f/2.2 aperture, while the secondary snapper comes with 5-megapixel with f/2.0 aperture. The Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 also comes with a retina screen that can adjust the temperature, similar to Apple's True Tone feature, as well as eye protection mode like Apple's Night Shift.

Other features in the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 include fast charging and a 6,600 mAh battery. In terms of cost, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 costs 1,499 yuan or about $220.