Honor Pad V9 Review: Should the iPad shake in fear?
Honor Pad V9 Intro
The Honor Pad V9 is clearly aiming to take the fight to the latest Apple iPad family, and more specifically, to compete with the base Apple iPad 11th Gen. This slate comes with a bright and vivid 11.5-inch LCD display and a 144Hz refresh rate, a pretty potent MediaTek chipset, a big battery, and fast charging.
This new Honor tablet is also very stylish in its all-aluminum unibody, and its size and weight are both comparable to that of the new 11-inch iPad. The only problem here is availability, as Honor isn't available through carriers or big retailers in the States, while the iPads are basically everywhere.
With its price of around €499 (€459 with coupons and promotions), the Honor Pad V9 is a solid offering, but will it be able to fend off other Chinese competitors such as the Xiaomi Pad 7 and devices from the OnePlus Pad family in order to take the fight to the iPads? Let's find out!
With its price of around €499 (€459 with coupons and promotions), the Honor Pad V9 is a solid offering, but will it be able to fend off other Chinese competitors such as the Xiaomi Pad 7 and devices from the OnePlus Pad family in order to take the fight to the iPads? Let's find out!
Table of Contents:
Honor Pad V9 Specs
A MediaTek contender with a 144Hz LCD screen
Let's start with an overview of the Honor Pad V9 specs:
| Honor Pad V9 |
|---|
| Size and Weight 259.1 x 176.1 x 6.1 mm, 475 grams |
| Display 11.5 inches, IPS LCD 2800 x 1840 pixels (291 PPI) 144Hz, 500 nits brightness |
| Processor Mediatek Dimensity 8350 Elite (4 nm) |
| Software MagicOS 9.0 based on Android 15 |
| Cameras 13 MP, f/2.0, (wide), AF main camera 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide) front camera |
| Battery Size 10100 mAh |
| Charging Speeds 35W wired No wireless |
| Prices 8/256GB model starts at €499 12/256GB version available |
Honor Pad V9 Design and Display
Compact and stylish
There's no denying, the Honor Pad V9 is one pretty-looking device. It has an all-aluminum unibody that's just over 6 mm thick, flat sides, and a stylish circular camera housing on the back.
There are four loudspeaker grills on each side of the tablet, but they are home to two speakers each for a total of eight on this tablet. On the top we find the volume rocker button surrounded by a bunch of microphones, and on the left (or top side in portrait mode) there's the power button.
The tablet is available in White and Gray, and the latter looks and feels fantastic—the matte gray aluminum on the back feels papery to the touch, and the overall look resembles that of a high-end device.
As far as weight is concerned, this 11.5-inch slate comes in at 475 grams, which is around the average for its class, and just a hair heavier than the 11-inch iPad (2025). The thickness is identical to the said iPad, and the bezels around the screen measure about 7 mm, and that's close to iPad Pro territory.
There are four loudspeaker grills on each side of the tablet, but they are home to two speakers each for a total of eight on this tablet. On the top we find the volume rocker button surrounded by a bunch of microphones, and on the left (or top side in portrait mode) there's the power button.
The tablet is available in White and Gray, and the latter looks and feels fantastic—the matte gray aluminum on the back feels papery to the touch, and the overall look resembles that of a high-end device.
As far as weight is concerned, this 11.5-inch slate comes in at 475 grams, which is around the average for its class, and just a hair heavier than the 11-inch iPad (2025). The thickness is identical to the said iPad, and the bezels around the screen measure about 7 mm, and that's close to iPad Pro territory.
Inside the retail box you will find the basics - a charging brick and a USB-C cable | Image by PhoneArena
Inside the retail box, we find a charging brick (35W), a USB-C cable, and some paperwork. That's pretty basic, but things could've been worse—many companies will give you just the device and nothing else. We would've loved a case or a bundled keyboard and stylus, but our sample arrived barebones.
The display of the Honor Pad V9 is gorgeous, even though it's an IPS LCD panel | Image by PhoneArena
Moving to the display part, the elephant in the room here is called LCD. Most of the mobile industry has already moved toward OLED panels, but we still get the occasional LCD tablet here and there. As a matter of fact, even the latest iPad devices still sport LCD displays.
Going for an LCD panel does not necessarily mean that the display is inferior or not good enough. The Honor Pad V9 is a prime example. This 11.5-inch IPS LCD screen looks gorgeous, the resolution of 2800 x 1840 pixels results in almost 300 PPI (the "Retina" threshold that Apple invented back in 2010 with the iPhone 4), and the colors are quite vivid and pleasing.
In terms of brightness, Honor lists the Pad V9 as able to output 500 nits, and we were able to verify this in our display tests. Actually, the result of around 540 nits both at 20% APL and with the whole display lit up surpasses the measured brightness of the latest iPad (2025). The minimum brightness of 1.8 nits is also impressive, as is the color accuracy and color temperature.
As far as biometrics are concerned, the Honor Pad V9 supports only face recognition, and it's done via the front camera; no fancy 3D scans, laser, or radar tech involved. There's no fingerprint scanner either, so you're left with a password/PIN for security.
Honor Pad V9 Performance & Benchmarks
Decent power from the MediaTek chipset
The MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Elite is quite powerful | Image by PhoneArena
MediaTek has slapped the "Elite" moniker on the Dimensity 8350 chipset, and even though the raw power is not on par with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the 8350 inside the Honor Pad V9 is a decent performer. This octa-core chipset relies on one slightly overclocked 3.35 GHz Cortex-A715 performance core, three 3.20 GHz Cortex-A715 cores, and four 2.20 GHz Cortex-A510 efficient cores.
In normal day-to-day tasks, this slate is excellent. Everything runs smoothly with no hiccups and lag. Let's see what the synthetic benchmarks can tell us and how this silicon stacks against the competition.
In normal day-to-day tasks, this slate is excellent. Everything runs smoothly with no hiccups and lag. Let's see what the synthetic benchmarks can tell us and how this silicon stacks against the competition.
GPU Performance
The MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Elite fails to impress in our single-core benchmark, mainly due to the single Cortex A715 core that's not clocked particularly high as well. When it comes to multicore performance, it's much closer even to the mighty A16 chip inside the iPad (2025).
Things start to get really interesting when we take a look at the graphics performance. It seems that the Mali G615-MC6 is a worthy opponent to the Adreno 730 and 735 found inside the OnePlus Tab 2 and Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro, respectively. The new iPad is still untouchable when it comes to raw performance, though.
Things start to get really interesting when we take a look at the graphics performance. It seems that the Mali G615-MC6 is a worthy opponent to the Adreno 730 and 735 found inside the OnePlus Tab 2 and Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro, respectively. The new iPad is still untouchable when it comes to raw performance, though.
Honor Pad V9 Software
The Honor Pad V9 comes with MagicOS 9.0 out of the box, and this proprietary UI is based on Android 15. Among the usual Android stuff onboard (all the Google apps are present), you will find Honor's AI tools as well. They are not on the level of Galaxy AI or Gemini Advanced, but they work and are actually helpful.
Magic Portal is present; it allows you to select text or an image and drag it to the side of the tablet where a shade opens and offers you a slew of apps. You can export the selection directly to those apps. Honor continues to work on its Notes app, and there are some AI features there as well. You can summarize a text, record or import an audio file, and ask Notes to generate a summary based on the nature of the recording—media briefing, interview, training, etc.
There's also a feature called Handwriting Beautification that recognizes messy handwriting, and Notes can also deal with formulas and equations. Honor plans to bring its own AI Agent to all devices, but at the time of writing, there's no sign of such an AI on the Pad V9.
Speaking of AI, Gemini is available if you long-press the power button, so you have the option to use Google's AI system if you feel like it. Honor shared its bold plans at this year's MWC in Barcelona to offer seven years of software updates, but we doubt this pledge will affect midrange tablets such as the Pad V9. Last year's Pad 9 model received only one major OS update and will be supported with security patches for three years, and the same applies to the Pad V9.
Honor Pad V9 Audio Quality
The audio system inside the Honor Pad V9 is simply amazing. The slate boasts eight speakers and supports a long list of audio formats and enhancements, including IMAX Enhanced, DTS:X, and Hi-Res Audio, along with Honor's Spatial Audio as well.
The sound coming from these eight speakers is really, really loud. You can feel the whole device vibrating and amplifying certain frequencies. The sound quality is also very good with minimal distortion even at max volume.
Overall, the audio is one of the strongest points of the V9, along with the great LCD panel. And given that most tablets are primarily used for entertainment (e.g., watching Netflix, YouTube, movies, and other audiovisual stuff), Honor has made sure those two areas are covered.
The sound coming from these eight speakers is really, really loud. You can feel the whole device vibrating and amplifying certain frequencies. The sound quality is also very good with minimal distortion even at max volume.
Overall, the audio is one of the strongest points of the V9, along with the great LCD panel. And given that most tablets are primarily used for entertainment (e.g., watching Netflix, YouTube, movies, and other audiovisual stuff), Honor has made sure those two areas are covered.
Honor Pad V9 Battery and Charging
The Honor Pad V9 comes with a pretty hefty battery, especially considering its size and weight. The 10100 mAh cell inside is of the silicon-carbon variety—Honor was the first company to offer the technology outside China with the Magic 6 Pro. For more information, check out our dedicated article on the subject.
The battery life is stellar with more than 13 hours of continuous browsing, more than 9 hours of gaming, and more than 6 hours of video streaming. This compact 11.5-inch tablet punches above its weight, and it scores a composite of 5h 22m, which ranks it number 5 for tablets tested in the past 2 years. Great job.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
The charging, on the other hand, takes a lot of time. The Chinese version of the tablet supports 66W wired charing but globally the model is limited to just 35W. Getting this huge 10100 mAh battery from zero to 100% takes more than two hours with the supplied 35W charger.
It takes more than two hours to fully charge the Honor Pad V9 from 0 to 100% | Image by PhoneArena
Another omission is wireless charging. Not many tablets in this price range have it, so it's not such a big deal, but it's something to bear in mind.
Honor Pad V9 Camera
It's just okay
The single 13MP camera has autofocus but lacks OIS | Image by PhoneArena
We often say that the camera system on a tablet is not such an important and critical component but brands like Xiaomi (among others) have started to equip their slates with high-resolution front and back cameras. The aforementioned Xiaomi slapped a 50MP main camera on its latest tablet and coupled that with a 32MP main camera.
Sadly, the Honor Pad V9 sticks with the same 13MP wide-angle camera on the back as its spiritual predecessor, the Honor Pad 9 (check out our review for more details). The selfie camera is also the same 8MP sensor that we're already familiar with. To be fair, the main camera make use of MagicOS latest AI tricks and it can also record video in 4K at 30fps, but there's no way around the small sensor and lack of OIS.
Photo Quality
No surprises in this section; photos taken with the 13MP main camera look soft, and there's a perceivable lack of detail. The exposure is not great either, especially indoors with a limited amount of light falling on the sensor. The 2X zoom shots display the same uninspiring qualities, despite all the AI magic going on in the background.
In good lighting conditions, when the sun is beating down on the thing or person you want to picture, the Honor Pad V9 gets the job done, although the colors are a bit blown out. The selfie camera is also nothing to write home about; there's a Portrait mode, but we couldn't find much of a difference from the normal mode, other than the beautify effects that you can apply.
In good lighting conditions, when the sun is beating down on the thing or person you want to picture, the Honor Pad V9 gets the job done, although the colors are a bit blown out. The selfie camera is also nothing to write home about; there's a Portrait mode, but we couldn't find much of a difference from the normal mode, other than the beautify effects that you can apply.
Should you buy it?
Is this the iPad killer? | Image by PhoneArena
The Honor Pad V9 is a great midrange tablet that does many things right. It ticks the right boxes for a tablet device—it comes with a beautiful display, albeit an IPS LCD, the audio onboard is amazing, and the battery life is impressive.
As an added bonus, you get a very stylish and sleek device with a thin all-aluminum body, clean sides, and pretty narrow bezels around the screen. At €499, however, there are a lot of alternatives, some of which offer a faster processor, a better camera system, or a brighter screen (the Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro comes to mind).
The main inspiration behind the Honor Pad V9 and also its biggest competitor—the new 11-inch iPad—can be bought for just $349, and if we storage-correct the equation, the 256GB iPad still costs less than the Pad V9 at $449. So, at the end of the day, the Honor Pad V9 is a decent Android iPad alternative, which not many people would actually buy.
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