Apple iPad 9 (2021) vs. Xiaomi Pad 5 Comparison

 

Apple iPad 9 (2021) vs. Xiaomi Pad 5

Apple has been the tablet king for a

while now but when it comes to budget

devices other manufacturers like Xiaomi

are stepping up their game this

is the iPad 10.2 2021 the least

expensive of this year's iPad lineup but

for the same money you can get the

Xiaomi pad 5 brings some

competitive features for the prize

so which one gives you the best

the value I'm will for gsm marina and let's

compare the two tablets and find out.

let's start with the design of the iPad

10.2 2021 brings a familiar look which

borders on being outdated now that all

other pads have a different design

the Xiaomi pad 5 looks more in

tune with the current iPad design than

apple's budget tablet does

one difference is that Xiaomi's back

feels plastic to the touch even if it's

aluminum underneath

on the front, the Xiaomi is a bit more

elegant than the iPad its LCD is

slightly larger at 11 inches rather than

10.2 and it has thinner bezels

both the iPad's larger bezels allow its

space for a front-mounted home key

fingerprint reader for biometric

unlocking the Xiaomi pad is left with a

simple face unlock only

even though both tablets displays are

IPS LCDs and have nearly the same pixel

density they're quite different

the Xiaomi pad 5s has a 16 by 10 aspect

ratio and is more cutting edge it brings

support for 10-bit color and Dolby

vision and has a super-fast 120hz

the refresh rate for extra smoothness when

swiping and scrolling

in comparison the iPad 10.2 2021 screen

is more old-school it has a 4x3 aspect

ratio no wide color gamut and just a

standard 60hz refresh rate the pixel

response time is rather sluggish too so

when swiping around you might notice

smearing especially with text

the biggest difference between the

iPad's display and the Xiaomi's is that

the iPad 10.2 2021s is non-laminated

this means that you don't have all three

layers of the display the LCD panel the

touch-sensitive digitizer and the glass

panel tightly sandwiched together

instead, there is a gap underneath the

glass and that air gap causes light

refraction results in a less clear

image and you get more of those annoying

reflections especially if using the

tablet outdoors

Apple iPad 9 (2021) vs. Xiaomi Pad 5

there is an upside though if that glass

gets cracked you can replace it without

having to swap out that expensive LCD

panel underneath

and this screen also has a couple of

other things going for it it's very

color accurate and it supports true tone

which means it can change its white

balance based on the ambient light

okay let's move on to audio which is

also quite different between these two

devices the first major difference is

that the iPad 10.2 has a 3.5 millimeter

headphone jack while the Xiaomi doesn't

you'd need a USB-C adapter for

traditional headphones

but the iPad has just two speakers in a

stereo setup rather than four like the

Xiaomi pad and they're located quite

close to each other on the bottom

they're quieter than Xiaomi's

scoring just average on our loudness

charts but at least the sound quality is

quite good with impressive lows.

both the iPad 10.2 and the Xiaomi pad 5

have stylus support and support for a

magnetic keyboard and in both cases you

need to buy these peripherals separately

the iPad 10.2 has about an 8500 milliamp

hour battery capacity very similar to

the Xiaomi pad 5's 8 700 million powers

the iPad's battery life is not too

shabby but screen on time is a couple of

hours less than will be measured on the

Xiaomi pad

charging speed between the two devices

is comparable with the bundled adapter

we were able to charge from 0 to 24 in

half an hour with the iPad as opposed to

27 on the Xiaomi

next, let's go over the cameras

with this new 12 megapixel front-facing

cam the iPad places more emphasis on

video calls and selfies but the iPad's

the rear camera is just 8 megapixels and

hasn't been changed in a couple of

generations

in contrast, Xiaomi has a higher-res

13 megapixel rear cam

during the day photos from the iPad's

The main camera is decent the colors aren't

too bad and sharpening is balanced

the Xiaomi's daylight photos on the

other hands are outstanding in quality

we also like the Xiaomi selfies they're

detailed and sharp with true-to-life

colors and okay contrast

selfies from the iPad are decent but far

from impressive

but we have to note these photos are

mere crops from the native ultrawide

field of view which is unique for a

selfie cam

this helps power apple's new feature

called center stage within video calling

apps like facetime zoom Webex or google

meet the framing will automatically

follow the subject around and even widen

if another person comes in to join the

call

if you don't make video calls you won't

get to enjoy center stage but selfie

video quality is still respectable and

there is good electronic stabilization

as for the main camera video, it's good

too but is limited to 1080p

the Xiaomi pad 5 can record video from

its rear cam and a higher 4k resolution

and is better in quality overall

now let's get into the chipset the iPad

10.2 2021 runs on an apple a13 bionic

the same as in 2019's iPhone 11s this

provides high-level performance and even

though it's not quite on the level of

In this year's iPhone lineup there's more

than enough power here for your daily

tasks and gaming and the thermals are

handled well too

the Xiaomi pad 5 also provides flagship

grade performance though because of the

different architecture comparing the two

tablets directly in benchmarks would be

like comparing an apple to an orange

anyway thanks to the Qualcomm snapdragon

860 under the hood both the interface

and heavy games run fast and lag-free on

the Xiaomi pad 5.

it also has a good cooling system for

steady sustained performance

and finally, we have to go over the user

different interface

and could be a major factor in deciding

which tablet to go for the iPad 10.2

runs apple's iPad os 15. it's overall a

very similar interface to what we've

seen on previous pads but with some

extras like widget support on the home

screen

better split-screen behavior

and an upgraded notes app

and since it's the apple you can count on

plenty of software support the Xiaomi

pad 5 runs a tablet-oriented mini 12.5

based on android 11. it's very similar

to what you'd see on the latest Xiaomi

phones but with some extra features that

are specific for the optional stylus

users familiar with android will feel

right at home here however, Xiaomi hasn't

promised extended software support to

the Xiaomi pad like it has for phones

like the Xiaomi 11t

so that's the iPad 10.2 2021 and the

Xiaomi pad 5. both are budget tablets

and retail for about the same price but

the difference in quality is quite

noticeable

overall it seems like Xiaomi is trying

to prove itself here and it fits tons of

value into this device to make it a

runaway success

while apple's budget iPad has some

outdated features and relies more on the

apple name and ecosystem to drive sales

so, in the end, I would recommend the

Xiaomi pad 5 over the iPad 10.2 2021

unless the apple software is something

that you need to have