The new Huawei MatePad Pro gives the iPad Pro a run for its money
For months now, we’ve been hearing rumors regarding Huawei’s “iPad Pro killer.” At long last, the Huawei MatePad Pro has been unveiled. Based on its design and specifications, it should perform pretty well when compared to the iPad Pro, but due to the current government restrictions on Huawei, there’s a good chance that you’ll never see one.
The tablet sports a gorgeous 10.8-inch 2,560 x 1,600 display which offers a max brightness of 540 nits, making it suitable to be used indoors or outdoors. The 4.9mm thick bezels around the display are thinner than those on the iPad Pro, giving the Huawei MatePad Pro a screen to body ration of 90% which looks quite impressive for a device of this size. Huawei was able to achieve this thanks to the hole-punch cut out in the display for its 8MP front-facing camera.
The tablet measures 256mm x 159mm x 7.2mm while weighing in at 460 grams which is roughly the same weight as Apple’s tablet. Powering the tablet is the new Huawei Kirin 990 processor with 6/8GB of RAM, 128/256/512GB of storage, a 13MP main camera on the back 7,250 mAh with 40W fast charging, 15W wireless charging, five microphones, and a quad Harman Kardon speaker setup. The tablet also features Huawei’s digital pen which pairs magnetically to the site of the tablet for storage and charging.
The tablet offers the same functionality we’ve seen on most other Android tablets, but Huawei is also including its desktop mode built right in. Huawei’s desktop software mode typically only shows up when you paid your phone with an external monitor, giving users a traditional desktop environment that allows users to use Android apps in windows, like a traditional computer.
The tablet will be running on Android 10 with the latest EMUI 10 overlay. Due to trade restrictions, the tablet will likely not include the Google Play Store. Huawei’s starting price for the MatePad Pro is set at 3,299 yuan ($470 USD) for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but that price jump significantly to 4,999 yuan ($710) for the model featuring 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, though the tablet’s keyboard and stylus are included at that price point.