Huawei has an iPad Air contender priced under RM1,900

[ UPDATE 20/12/2019 12:00pm ] The Huawei MediaPad M6 10.8″ is only available with 4GB RAM + 128GB of storage and it’s an LTE variant. Huawei has also confirmed that it doesn’t come with Google Mobile Services pre-installed.

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Huawei Malaysia has announced the arrival of its MediaPad M6 and it’s a flagship-class tablet that’s big on display and sound. The device is priced from RM1,899 and Huawei is including an M-Pen Lite stylus and smart leather case with keyboard worth RM568 for free while stocks last.

The Huawei MediaPad M6 10.8″ will go on sale starting 20th December 2019 and you can order it from their online store. There’s no mention if it will be sold at Huawei Experience Stores or via its eCommerce channels on Lazada or Shopee.

The front comes with a 10.8″ IPS display that pushes a 2K resolution of 2560×1600 pixels. Unlike the new MatePad Pro, it still comes with a physical home button with a fingerprint sensor and it has an 8MP front camera on the bezel. If you plan to take pictures with it, the rear comes with a single 13MP main camera. There are also four speakers that are tuned by Harmon Kardon.

Powering the device is a Kirin 980 processor with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage which is expandable via a microSD card. The device gets a 7,500mAh battery which supports 18W fast charging via USB-C. On a full charge, it is rated to last up to 11 hours of 1080p video playback. The tablet for Malaysia is an LTE variant which allows you to stay connected on the go.

The tablet itself weighs 498g and it has a thickness of 7.2mm. With the 345g smart magnetic keyboard, you can transform the MediaPad M6 into a productivity “computer”. The M-Pen Lite allows you to draw or take down notes and it supports 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. According to the global site, it runs on EMUI 10 that’s based on Android 10. It doesn’t run with Google Mobile Services and that means you’ll have to use Huawei’s AppGallery instead of Google PlayStore to download your required apps.

For RM1,899 with the keyboard and stylus all-in, the MediaPad M6 10.8 is an interesting offering considering the latest iPad Air for 2019 is priced from RM2,199. That’s excluding the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard that are sold at RM419 and RM649 respectively.

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