It took OnePlus almost a decade of bombastic advertising and tough talk before it finally turned its flagship-killing attention to Android tablets in 2023. The OnePlus Pad didn’t so much kill the flagships, but it did provide a competent, reasonably priced alternative. The company is now back with the sequel, the aptly named OnePlus Pad 2. There’s a lot to like here, including the super-fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and lovely 144Hz display. The price, however, made this one hard to love for me.
As OnePlus settles into its tablet release cycle, it’s also asking more for its refined second-gen device. The price has risen to $550, a relatively substantial increase over the $480 it wanted last year, and the accessories that set this slate apart cost even more on top of that. As good as the OnePlus Pad 2 is in some ways, the push to above the $500 mark means it’s not anywhere near as competitive with the market-leading Samsung Android tablets as the first generation was.