Oppo Pad 5 Pro review: a premium, big-screen tablet without the price tag

Oppo Pad 5 Pro: One-minute review

If you’re after a big-screen tablet with a premium design, a huge battery, and a price tag that won’t bankrupt you, the Oppo Pad 5 Pro makes a compelling case as one of the best tablets on the market.

It also arrives with an initially puzzling spec configuration. The Pad 5 Pro is the successor to the Oppo Pad 3 Pro, which landed in 2025 with a smaller screen (12 inches) and 12GB of RAM. This time around, however, Oppo has increased the tablet's screen size but slashed its RAM capacity to 8GB.

That means the Pad 5 Pro has a lower power ceiling than its predecessor for multitasking and resource-intensive productivity tasks, but Oppo has almost certainly made this decision as a result of the ongoing global RAM shortage, which is pushing up memory prices. Had the Pad 5 Pro been equipped with 12GB of RAM, it would almost certainly be significantly more expensive.

And it’s not all bad news for the Pad 5 Pro's power credentials, as its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset can handle pretty much everything you throw at it. The Pad 3 Pro, by contrast, uses a still-powerful but older Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version chipset, so what you lose in RAM, you gain in CPU power.

The tablet's 7:5 aspect ratio display also makes the Pad 5 Pro a great productivity companion. The ColorOS 16 interface has excellent multitasking tools, and I love the ability to use the tablet as a screen for your laptop.

I also enjoyed holding the tablet vertically and reading articles, with its 144Hz refresh rate allowing for smooth scrolling, and the screen's bezel providing a place to rest my thumb.

With the Pad 5 Pro back in landscape, the expansive screen was great for my PUBG: Mobile sessions and streaming videos. Plus, with eight speakers built into the slender frame, the Pad 5 Pro has surprisingly good audio.

Then there’s the whopping 13,380mAh battery that’ll give you multiple days of use from a single charge with moderate use, and a solid two days with more intensive activity.

As big-screen tablets go, then, the Oppo Pad 5 Pro has a lot to offer that makes it easy to recommend.

Oppo Pad 5 Pro review: Price and availability

• The Oppo Pad 5 Pro costs £699, less than the 13-inch iPad Air (M4)
• Available in the UK and Europe with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro costs £699, making it slightly more expensive than Apple’s entry-level iPad 11-inch (2025) (£429), but comfortably cheaper than the firm’s iPad Air 13-inch (2025) (£949) and Samsung’s 12.6-inch Galaxy Tab S12 Plus (£1,399). Its closest competitor, price-wise, is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus (£689).

At £699, the Pad 5 Pro also costs £200 more than its predecessor. Sure, it has a bigger screen, a larger battery, and an updated chipset — but as mentioned, it also has less RAM. You're still getting decent bang for your buck, but last year's Pad 3 Pro was a better value proposition overall.

At the time of writing (October 2026), Oppo is running a £100-off promotion on the Pad 5 Pro, taking the asking price down to £599. At that figure, it's a steal.

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro is currently available in the UK and Europe. If you’re reading this review in North America or Australia, then bad news: this tablet is not currently sold in your region.

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro is available in a single configuration: 8GB RAM with 256GB of storage, and Wi-Fi only. Unlike Apple’s iPads and Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs, there is no cellular option here.

If you want to enhance your experience, Oppo offers case and stylus accessories for the tablet. The Oppo Pad 5 Pro Smart Keyboard case (£299), as the name suggests, provides you with a full QWERTY keyboard and stand in a similar design to Apple’s Magic Keyboard.

The Smart Case (£29.90) provides front and back protection and an origami-style folding flag for various stand orientations.

Meanwhile, the Oppo Pencil 3 Pro (£79.90) comes with 16,000 levels of pressure sensitivity — more than the Apple Pencil series — and an industry-first felt tip for a realistic writing-on-paper-like experience.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Oppo Pad 5 Pro: Specs

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro boasts a number of key spec upgrades over its predecessor — but it's also saddled with a notable downgrade.

Oppo’s increased the screen size to 13.2 inches, and the display resolution gets a bump too, with the LCD screen now offering a 3392 x 2400 (3.4K) pixel resolution, 315 ppi, and a peak brightness of 1,000 nits.

Battery capacity is now a meaty 13,380mAh with 80W fast charging, while Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset runs the show. There’s 256GB of storage too, plus eight speakers and two microphones, all packed into a supremely slim 5.94mm body.

The downgrade comes in the RAM department. The Pad 3 Pro packed 12GB of RAM, but for the Oppo Pad 5 Pro, you’re getting just 8GB. For a tablet that’s supposedly offering a PC-level experience and plenty of AI productivity tools, this is a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker.

Oppo Pad 5 Pro review: Design

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(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

(Image credit: John McCann / TechRadar)

• Slim, premium design that looks great
• Just one color option, but Mocha Brown works
• It’s almost 100g heavier than the 13-inch iPad Pro

In the battle of the big-screen tablets, there’s not much to choose between the Apple, Oppo, and Samsung slates in terms of design.

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro is a great-looking and feeling premium tablet. Its flat edges mimic the latest iPad design, while its ultra-slim profile means it slips seamlessly into a bag.

At 5.94mm thick, the Pad 5 Pro is certainly slender, but it’s not as svelte as the pricier iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) or Samsung Galaxy S12 Ultra, which are both just 5.1mm slim.

This isn't a particularly big issue, although at 672g, there’s some weight behind this supersized slate: the Pad 5 Pro is almost 100g heavier than the iPad Pro 13 (M5) and its predecessor, the Pad 3 Pro. A lightweight, compact tablet this is not.

Oppo claims the all-metal unibody is designed to feel "as natural and effortless to hold as a magazine." While it’s certainly heavier than the T3 magazine I had to hand, I did enjoy holding the tablet during use. There are no sharp edges, and so long as you’re okay with the weight, it’s comfortable in the hand.

I especially liked using it in portrait when reading articles, and while the bezels around the screen might appear to be on the large side, they provided an accommodating space for my thumb to rest.

Oppo has continued the single-color trend it employed for this tablet’s predecessor, with the Pad 5 Pro available in just one hue: Mocha Brown. Now, brown isn’t the first color that jumps to mind for a tablet, but I must say it looks smart here. Plus, a single color choice at least means a simpler buying journey.

There’s a front-facing camera positioned along the landscape edge of the screen, which is the premier position for video calls when in a protective case or keyboard stand, while a pill-shaped island on the rear houses the 13MP rear snapper and flash.

The only buttons on this tablet are a power key and two volume buttons, while a USB-C port provides wired charging and data transfer access.

On the rear, you’ll also find three pogo pin connectors, allowing you to connect the tablet to the optional Smart Keyboard accessory. And on the top edge, there’s a subtle oval indentation to guide you when magnetically attaching the optional Oppo Pencil 3 Pro stylus to the slate when not in use.

Oppo’s also managed to pack eight speakers into the Pad 5 Pro, four on each short side, and there are two microphones to pick up your voice during video calls.

There’s no fingerprint scanner either under the display or built into the power switch, with Oppo instead opting for face unlock smarts.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Oppo Pad 5 Pro review: Display

• Huge 13.2-inch, 3.4K display
• Great for multitasking, gaming, and video streaming
• Supports HDR for Netflix and Prime Video, plus Dolby Vision

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro's display measures a whopping 13.2 inches, making it bigger than Apple’s largest iPad Pro. This supersized screen ensures you have plenty of real estate for your apps, games, videos, and work tasks.

Oppo has stuck with an LCD panel for the screen here, which will likely help keep overall costs down, but it does mean you don’t get the same deep black levels as you do with Samsung’s AMOLED screens.

Resolution isn’t an issue, though, with the 3.4K panel offering a pixel density of 315ppi — that's much higher than you'll get on the pricier iPad Pro (265ppi) and Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra (239ppi).

Oppo uses what it calls the “A4 golden ratio” for the screen — specifically, it's a 7:5 screen aspect ratio that makes reading articles, checking documents, and reviewing presentations very comfortable.

The adaptive refresh rate up to 144Hz means scrolling, swiping, and sliding around the interface and apps feels fluid; great when you’re moving through long documents or fast-moving comment sections.

Fire up a streaming service, though, and 16:9 and 21:9 videos result in large black bars above and below the action. Still, this isn't deal-breaking for the experience, and with HDR for Netflix and Prime Video, along with Dolby Vision support, content looks great.

The Pad 5 Pro's large screen size means it’s an excellent tablet to use away from home, especially when on the move for work. It’s easy to run apps side-by-side without them feeling cramped, and I enjoyed using Oppo’s O+Connect software with my laptop to enable the Pad 5 Pro as a second display.

Plus, the plentiful display real estate was beneficial when I fired up PUBG: Mobile, giving me an expansive view of the battlefield and plenty of space for the on-screen buttons and HUD.

With a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, I was able to use the Pad 5 Pro outside without much in the way of reflections or glare. In direct sunlight, you might struggle to see the screen a little, but positioned on a sun lounger in the shade, this tablet works nicely.

• Display score: 4.5 / 5

Oppo Pad 5 Pro review: Software

• ColorOS 16 provides excellent customization and multitasking
• AI tools are included, but usefulness varies

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro is an Android tablet at heart, with Oppo’s own ColorOS 16 interface laid on top. And Oppo says the tablet will get an upgrade to ColorOS 17 in November 2026.

The good news is Oppo’s UI is a highly accomplished offering these days. It’s pretty close to stock Android, while offering extra layers of customization and features on top. The result is a tablet that’s enhanced by the software Oppo makes.

If you like to fine-tune your experience, the Oppo Pad 5 Pro has plenty of options in the Settings menu, but you don't need to dive into them. This tablet also works great out of the box with the default settings.

And, mercifully, Oppo has kept pre-loaded applications to a minimum, with just a handful forced on you from the off — apps such as Netflix, WPS Office, LinkedIn, and TikTok. The good news is these can be uninstalled easily if you’d rather not have them.

I like how easy it is to get two (or three) apps side by side on screen — tap the three dots at the top of the screen when in an app, select Split View, and you're away. Coupled with the big screen, this multitasking functionality makes the Pad 5 Pro an excellent productivity machine that students and mobile workers will find intuitive and helpful.

And as I mentioned briefly in the display section, productivity can be further enhanced with O+ Connect, which allows you to sync your Mac or Windows laptop to the Pad 5 Pro to use it to transfer documents, mirror displays, or act as a second screen. It works wired and wirelessly, so you don’t need to remember cables every time.

Considering how slim the Pad 5 Pro is, it’s not a huge ask to slide this tablet into your bag with your work or study laptop, giving you excellent flexibility.

There are AI tools on board too, including the now-familiar Circle to Search feature, but Oppo also has AI Smart Circle. When using the optional Pencil 3 Pro, pressing and holding the stylus on the screen will highlight content, allowing you to annotate, save, or share it.

From there, you can access additional AI tools, including AI Painter (which helps you enhance images you find). The tools work and can be fun to use, but their mileage will vary depending on your use cases.

• Software score: 4.5 / 5

Oppo Pad 5 Pro review: Performance

• A mixed bag of specs, but enough power for most
• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and 8GB of RAM
• Comfortably handles three apps on screen at the same time

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro performance specs are a bit of a mixed bag. First, the good: you get Qualcomm's latest, top-of-the-line chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

That means plenty of raw power under the hood and enough smarts for various AI workflows, whether you’re a Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, or other LLM user.

What’s less impressive is the amount of RAM you get. With its predecessor, the Pad 3 Pro (there was no 4 model), you got 12GB of RAM. On the Pad 5 Pro, however, Oppo has downgraded this capacity to 8GB.

We can’t be too cross with Oppo, though. There’s a global shortage of RAM, which in turn is pushing up prices, and its scarcity is leaving manufacturers in a tricky position when it comes to balancing power and price.

I suspect if Oppo did include 12GB of RAM in the Pad 5 Pro, its asking price would be much higher, and to be fair to the tablet, it handled everything I threw at it with ease.

I cranked up the graphical settings on PUBG: Mobile and was able to successfully log some Winner Winner Chicken Dinner victories, while 4K video streaming from Disney Plus, Prime Video, and Netflix all worked well and looked great.

Hours of gaming, long video calls, prolonged typing of this review using the Smart Keyboard Case, and TV series binges (series two of The Gentleman, anyone?) were all taken in stride, too.

If you’re looking to complete overly complex graphical or AI tasks, though, the Oppo Pad 5 Pro may start to struggle, so consider a more powerful (and likely pricier) tablet if you fall into this category.

For those of you who do a lot of gaming, the Pad 5 Pro has Oppo’s Game Assistant, allowing you to direct maximum performance to the game you’re playing, with toggles to enhance graphics and framerate too.

And a quick word on this tablet’s eight-speaker setup. They sound great for their size, considering they’re packed into the Pad 5 Pro’s slender frame, offering rich audio and great stereo performance. They’re not going to beat a quality pair of Bluetooth headphones, but they’re more than capable for most use cases.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Oppo Pad 5 Pro review: Battery

• Huge 13,380mAh battery
• Multi-day use from a single charge is easily achievable
• 80W fast charging, but you’ll need to provide the block

The Oppo Pad 5 Pro performs very well when it comes to battery life.

Oppo has packed a massive 13,380mAh power pack into the tablet's slender frame, and the sheer capacity on offer translates directly into impressive longevity.

An hour-long PUBG: Mobile gaming session resulted in a 7% drop in battery life, which means the Pad 5 Pro is capable of many hours of gameplay.

Loading up a Dolby Vision-supported movie on Netflix, the Pad 5 Pro dropped 9% in an hour and a half. That was with Wi-Fi connected, brightness at half, and various applications syncing in the background.

Extrapolated out, that's over 10 hours of video streaming, although Oppo claims the Pad 5 Pro can deliver up to 20 hours of video playback. That might be possible on lower brightness settings and with a film file on the tablet itself, but not through everyday streaming.

And when left idle overnight, the Pad 5 Pro lost just 1% in 12 hours.

Battery drain is similar when working and multitasking, with the Pad 5 Pro offering two days of battery life pretty consistently with multiple hours of use each day.

If you use the tablet less, though, you'll find you'll still have battery life days later.

Oppo has also equipped the Pad 5 Pro with its 80W SuperVOOC flash charging, allowing you to top up the mega battery at speed. You'll need a high-powered plug block to achieve the 80W speeds, though — and one isn't provided in the box.

I used a 100W charging block, and the Oppo Pad 5 Pro went from 46% to 54% in 10 minutes, reaching 62% after 20 minutes, and a quarter of the total capacity (3,345mAh) after 30 minutes.

These might not seem like stellar increases on paper, but when you consider the size of the battery inside the Pad 5 Pro, you’re getting hours of use from short charging sessions.

• Battery score: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the Oppo Pad 5 Pro?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

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How I tested the Oppo Pad 5 Pro

I used the Oppo Pad 5 Pro as my daily tablet for a week. I used it for a wide variety of activities, including reading articles, sketching with the Pencil 3 Pro, gaming, checking emails, scrolling social, and streaming TV, movies, and music.

I used the Smart Keyboard Case to type the majority of this review, and recharged the slate with slow and fast charging blocks — you’ll want to invest in an 80W+ block if you buy the Pad 5 Pro.

As part of my testing, I engaged in a mix of high- and low- usage days to get a proper sense of the Oppo Pad 5 Pro's excellent battery life. I tried the tablet's AI features and used its cameras for photography indoors and outdoors, as well as for video calls.

Read more about how we test

First tested October 2026