The OnePlus Pad 2 is here, and it’s arrived early

With just days to go before the OnePlus Pad 2 launches, the firm has launched a brand new tablet in the Chinese market. It's not called the OnePlus Pad 2 – it's the Pad Pro – but it seems identical to the rumoured tablet.

The OnePlus Pad is one of the most iPad-like tablets, and won four stars in our OnePlus Pad review – so its imminent sequel is causing some excitement. But while there's no news of an official launch just yet, it looks like the tablet has just launched in China.

The Chinese tablet is being teased on the social network Weibo, where OnePlus has posted teaser images of a OnePlus Pad Pro and a launch date of 27 June. But while the tablet it's teasing has a different name, it appears to be the same OnePlus Pad 2 that we'll see in other markets.

According to OnePlus it's "the most powerful Android tablet to date". And given OnePlus's traditionally aggressive pricing, that means it's definitely one worth waiting for.

So what can we garner from the OnePlus Pad Pro?

OnePlus Pad 2: faster processors but a very similar design

Leaker Digital Chat Station has posted multiple images of the OnePad Plus Pro on Weibo , and they look almost identical to the current model; if you squint the bezels appear to be marginally slimmer, but that's about it. The teaser post says it has an all-metal body and promises a "very attractive" price. We'd expect battery life and camera improvements but they haven't been detailed so far.

The current OnePlus pad has a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset, and there's a newer version now available: the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+. It delivers higher clock speeds, with its Cortex-A4 core clocked at up to 3.4GHz compared to the 9000's 3.25GHz. It has the same raytracing-capable Immortalis-G720 GPU and promises to be 10% faster in AI tasks as well as more energy efficient in gaming.

We don't know for certain that the 9300+ is OnePlus's chosen chipset, although that does seem highly likely; in some tests it outperforms the rival Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and OnePlus has claimed that the new tablet is the most powerful Android to date. The fact that MediaTek chipsets tend to be cheaper than Snapdragons is another point in their favour – although Snapdragons have better brand awareness, especially in the large US market, so for marketing reasons OnePlus may choose that chipset for US models. We'll know much more when the OnePlus Pad Pro launches later this week.