Xiaomi moves from strength to strength in the smartphone space, occupying practically every segment with at least one capable entry and delivering some of the best value on the market, but there are now signs that the company plans to return to the long-neglected tablet space, with a series of new Mi Pads.

We reviewed 2018's Mi Pad 4 (an affordable 8in Android-based doppelgänger to Apple's iPad Mini, which saw little appeal outside of China due to a lack of Google Services) and found it to be a capable low-cost slate. Following its release, however, Xiaomi took its foot off the gas and instead choose to focus its attention on smartphones in the years that followed.

Based on a series of new discoveries – initially unearthed by the XDA Developers community – it now looks as though Xiaomi might be prepping not one, but up to three new tablets, that could arrive as soon as August.

When will the Mi Pad 5 launch?

With news of the company's rise to position 338 on the Fortune 500, Xiaomi CEO, Lei Jun announced that his annual address will take place on 10 August at 7:30pm local time (12:30pm BST), which is where we're expecting to learn about new phones MIUI 13 (the Mi Pad 5 series is expected to arrive on MIUI 12.5, according to MyDrivers) and the company's long-rumoured tablets.

This aligns with a previous statement from the Product Director for Xiaomi's Redmi line – Wang Teng Thomas – who, in response to fan questions on Weibo, revealed that we shouldn't expect to see the Mi Pad 5 series launch until the second half of 2021.

This also helped dispel an existing rumour from the XiaomiUI Telegram group that had previously suggested a 25 June unveiling.

How much does the Mi Pad 5 cost?

2018's Mi Pad 4, was a decidedly mid-range tablet, available internationally on the grey market from import retailers at a respectable sub-£250/€290/US$350 starting price.

Based on the expected hardware this new series of Mi Pads looks likely to feature they're expected to reach closer to premium slate pricing; albeit with Xiaomi's iconic value still intact.

For reference, the 11in Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and Apple's 2019 iPad Mini – potential contenders for the next Mi Pad entries – start at £619/€699/$649 and £399/€449/$399, respectively.

What features does the Mi Pad 5 offer?

While the Mi Pad 5 looks to be the most likely moniker for these new Xiaomi tablets, the name has yet to appear in any official capacity. However, while digging through the decompiled code of various MIUI 12.5 system apps, XDA Developers found what are believed to be codenames for the company's next slates, in “Nabu”, “Enuma” and “Elish.”

These particular names appear to be in reference to Babylonian myth, with the latter two forming two parts of the name for the Babylonian creation myth, "Enūma Eliš", which paired with their respective tablets' partial model numbers (K81 and K81A), suggest two variants of the same slate.

"Enuma" appears to support voice calls, implying support for cellular connectivity (it's expected to support 5G), while at least one of the other slates are said to be WiFi-only.