Huawei’s iPad Pro clone is hilarious

Huawei has recently introduced the MatePad Pro in China and this is their latest flagship tablet to take on the iPad Pro. The resemblance to Apple’s productivity tablet is uncanny and it even comes with a brand new stylus that’s called the M-Pencil.

The Huawei MatePad Pro comes with a single 10.8″ screen option. It uses an IPS LCD display that pushes a QuadHD+ resolution of 2560×1600 pixels and has a maximum brightness of 540 nits. Similar to the iPad Pro, the display has thin bezels with rounded corners which looks rather symmetrical.

For the front camera, Huawei has opted for a punch-hole implementation that houses an 8MP f/2.0 camera. At the rear, the camera bump looks like a dual-camera setup, but it only comes with single 13MP f/1.8 main shooter.

As you would expect from a flagship tablet, the device runs on a top of the line Kirin 990 processor that can be configured with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. If you need more, it also accepts further storage expansion via its NM card slot.

For greater productivity, you can get a desktop-like experience by attaching a “smart cover” keyboard which doubles up as a case. In addition, Huawei has also introduced a new stylus that’s called the M-Pencil which can support 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. Like the 2nd gen Apple Pencil, the M-Pencil can charge wirelessly when it’s attached to the side of the frame.

According to Huawei, a quick 30-second charge for the M-Pencil can last up to 10 minutes of use. Meanwhile, a full hour of charge can provide up to 10 hours of battery life.

Like its predecessors, the MatePad Pro comes with four speakers that are tuned by Harman Kardon. There’s also an array of 5 microphones that are designed to pick up audio from any direction.

Powering the tablet is a 7,250mAh battery that charges via USB-C. For the first time on a tablet, it supports both 15W wireless charging as well as 7.5W reverse wireless charging. The device is bundled with a 20W charger but it can also work with Huawei’s 40W SuperCharge power brick.

Out of the box, it runs on EMUI 10 that’s based on Android 10 and Huawei has also added a couple of multi-tasking features which appears to be similar to iPadOS. The operating system also supports multi-device collaboration which allows you to drag and drop files between your tablet and smartphone.

Overall, the MatePad Pro weighs 460g and it is only 7.2mm thick. As a comparison, the iPad Pro 11″ weighs 468 grams and it is thinner at 5.9mm. At the moment, the tablet is currently available in China and below is its officing pricing:

6GB RAM + 128GB WiFi – CNY 3,299 (about RM1,960)
8GB RAM + 256GB WiFi – CNY 3,999 (about RM2,376)
6GB RAM + 128GB WiFi + 4G – CNY 3,799 (about RM2,257)
8GB RAM + 256GB WiFi + 4G – CNY 4,499 (about RM2,673)