Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi hopes to turn up the heat on Apple and Samsung with its first entry into the tablet market.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun took to a Beijing stage today to unveil the Mi Pad—a 7.9-inch slate available in six colors, which looks suspiciously like an iPad, if it were built out of iPhone 5c materials.
According to the company website (translated), the device comes with a 2,048-by-1,536 screen—same as the iPad—and boasts a 2.2GHz Tegra K1 processor running a new version of MIUI. As CNET pointed out, the heavily customized Android OS is based on 4.4.2 KitKat, but resembles iOS 7.
For its first tablet entry, Xiaomi focuses heavily on the entertainment aspect of the slate, highlighting its reading app, photo and video gallery, music library, and game store.
Plus, the Microsoft Office suite promises Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications with support for Dropbox and other cloud services for easy syncing across devices.
The 16GB slate also comes with 2GB of RAM and room for up to 128GB of storage via microSD, as well as a 6,700 mAh battery. There's also an 8-megapixel rear cam and 5-megapixel front shooter.
When the Mi Pad launches next month, the Wi-Fi-only 16GB version will cost $240 (1,499 Chinese yuan), while the larger 64GB model will be priced at $272 (1,699 Chinese yuan).
Comparatively, the same-size iPad ranges from $399 to $929, depending on model, capacity, and network options.
Xiaomi's tablet will hit Chinese shelves in June, but as an open beta, in which select users can take a pre-production version of the Mi Pad for a test drive. There is no word on when the device will be widely available—in Asia or globally.
For more, see PCMag's Hands On With the Xiaomi Mi3 Smartphone and the slideshow above.