POCO has been doing budget phones for a while now. The POCO Pad C1 is the brand’s entry into tablets, and it is launching in the Philippines today with a starting price that makes it worth a serious look.
The POCO Pad C1 is built around a 9.7-inch 2K display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 600 nits of peak brightness. That combination covers the basics well enough for streaming, studying, and casual browsing, and the triple TUV Rheinland eye-care certifications are a welcome addition for anyone who tends to use a tablet for extended sessions. The build is a slim metal unibody, which gives it a cleaner feel than you might expect at this price point.
Performance comes from the Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2, paired with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It is not a powerhouse, but it is built for the use case POCO is describing: streaming, multitasking, studying, and staying connected throughout the day. The tablet also supports up to 2TB of expandable storage, which is a practical touch for anyone who keeps a lot of media locally.
Battery is a 7,600mAh unit that POCO says can last up to 1.7 days of typical use. It supports 18W fast charging and 10W reverse charging, so it can double as a power bank for your phone when needed.
On the software side, the POCO Pad C1 runs Xiaomi HyperOS 3 with Google Gemini and Circle to Search built in, along with Xiaomi Interconnectivity for cross-device use with other Xiaomi and POCO devices.
Pricing sits at P8,499 for the 4GB plus 64GB variant and P9,999 for the Shopee-exclusive 6GB plus 128GB option, both at early bird rates valid until June 15. After that, prices go back to P8,999 and P10,999 respectively. The POCO Pad C1 is available now through POCO’s official stores on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
