iQOO has put its compact gaming tablet on show. Official images of the iQOO Pad Ultra were published on September 17, 2026, along with the two accessories built for it. Both accessories are pitched squarely at e-sports players. The tablet launches in China on September 29, 2026, at the same event as the iQOO 16 smartphone, which the company had already shown.
The Pad Ultra is small for a tablet. It has an 8.8-inch screen and weighs just 298g. According to earlier iQOO teasers, the body is 5.74mm thick. That puts it closer to a big phone than a regular tablet, a size that makes sense for a device meant to be held in landscape for hours.
The official images show it in two colours, silver and black. Chinese marketing names for the finishes differ from one report to another, so we are sticking with plain silver and black for now.
Accessories as the headline act
iQOO is putting as much weight on the accessories as on the tablet. It has two gaming add-ons:
- A dual-sided gamepad. Earlier teasers show a stretchable controller that wraps around the tablet. It has its own USB-C port, micro-switches and a Hall-effect joystick.
- A case with clip-on handles. It adds proper grips to the slate for long sessions without a full controller.
Both are sold as e-sports gear, so the Pad Ultra is plainly a gaming device first. It is not aimed at people who want a Netflix screen or a note-taking tablet.
A fan inside the tablet
The gaming focus goes beyond the add-ons. iQOO’s own teasers confirmed a built-in cooling fan measuring 30 × 30 × 3.5mm, and the back has a vent for it. The fan spins at up to 14,500 rpm, moves 0.94 CFM of air and covers a heat dissipation area of 1,661mm². The aim is to stop the chip from throttling during long matches. Few tablets have active cooling, and a fan in a 5.74mm body is an unusual piece of engineering.
What we still don’t know
iQOO has said more specs will be revealed before launch. Leaks point to a flagship Snapdragon chip and a battery of around 9,000mAh, but iQOO has not confirmed either as of September 17, 2026. Price has not been announced. There is also no word on whether the Pad Ultra will be sold outside China. Given how often iQOO’s gaming hardware stays in its home market, we wouldn’t count on it.
Still, a pocketable tablet with a fan, a clip-on controller and a grip case is a clear pitch. It is squarely aimed at players who find phones too small and 11-inch tablets too unwieldy.
Earlier on GismoLand: iQOO 16 and iQOO Pad Ultra. A launch teased and pre-orders already open.
