Huawei has just unveiled the iPad Pro. Oh no, wait – it’s the MatePad Pro… sorry, we always confuse these two. And it’s easy to see why. Huawei clearly took inspiration from Apple’s hugely popular line of tablets. From its screen surrounded by minimal borders to the stylus that accompanies it, the Chinese material is remarkably reminiscent of the iPad Pro.
The MatePad Pro comes with a 10.8-inch display offering 2K resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, the tablet doesn’t benefit from a supercharged refresh rate like the 120Hz panel seen on Apple’s iPad Pro.
That said, the MatePad Pro’s display is especially notable for its punch-hole selfie camera. Yes, these are things on the shelves now …
Huawei said the cutout helps the tablet achieve a whopping 90% screen-to-body ratio. Very impressive indeed.
The rear of the MatePad Pro is pretty minimalistic – the device here only sports its 13-megapixel rear shooter and the Huawei branding.
Internally, Huawei does not hold back anything. The MatePad Pro is powered by the company’s Kirin 990 chipset and packs up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Of course, the tablet will also be available in the Wi-Fi or LTE variants.
A massive 7,250mAh battery should keep the tablet running as well. When you run out of juice, owners have the option to refill it with either 40W wired fast charging or 15W wireless charging. The Chinese tablet can also power other devices in the back thanks to the Support 7W reverse wireless charging.
So Huawei stuffed the MatePad Pro with first-class hardware in an effort to challenge the iPad Pro, but can its software challenge Apple’s iPadOS? Sort of… but not quite.
Much like its new smartphones, the MatePad Pro comes pre-installed with Huawei’s EMUI 10 skin running on Google’s Android operating system. The most important thing to note here is that the hardware does not support Google apps or services due to a US trade ban.
It means that if you take the Chinese tablet, you will not be able to take advantage of Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, the list is long.
Moreover, Android tablets still suffer from the age-old problem of app support. Unlike Apple’s iPadOS which offers an array of bespoke programs, Android lacks apps optimized for the largest form factor.
That said, Huawei still champions the entertainment and productivity features of the MatePad Pro. The Chinese company sells a keyboard case and an M Pen for the device so you can finish your written materials and presentations on the fly.
The MatePad Pro goes on sale in China on December 12. The device starts at 3,299 Chinese yuan, which works out to around £ 360 for the entry-level model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Unfortunately, there is no word on a release outside of China, but Express.co.uk will update you if or when that changes.
So, should Apple be worried about Huawei’s new tablet? Probably not.
The device’s limited version and software omissions (lack of support from Google) will likely prevent it from mounting a real challenge for the iPad, assuming the US position against Huawei doesn’t change of course.
