MatePad Pro: Huawei’s iPad Pro lookalike is arriving in Malaysia soon

At the global launch of the Huawei Mate Xs in Barcelona, Huawei also launched a bunch of other devices for the global market, including an interesting (and rather familiar-looking) tablet. The Huawei MatePad Pro was launched late last year in China, and we’ve now received word that the Chinese company’s flagship tablet is set to hit Malaysian shores soon. 

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: yes, the MatePad Pro appears to have been “inspired” by the iPad Pro, as far as certain design elements go. The biggest difference here is the hole-punch cutout near the top-left corner of the display that houses an 8MP f/2.0 camera—but besides that, the MatePad Pro looks remarkably similar.

There’s even an M-Pencil stylus that comes included with certain variants of the MatePad Pro, which will offer users increased control when using the stylus to create sketches or illustrations on the tablet thanks to 4,096 points of pressure for sensitivity. To charge, the M-Pencil magnetically latches onto the top of the tablet to recharge wirelessly, just like the 2nd generation Apple Pencil.

Regardless, Huawei’s latest tablet boasts some serious specs. You have a 10.8” display that pushes a resolution of 2560×1600, which offers better pixel density (280ppi) over the iPad Pro, while a 90% screen-to-body ratio is certainly an impressive figure for a tablet. If you couple that with the quad-speaker (and quad-microphone) setup, the MatePad Pro certainly looks like it could be a good device for media consumption. 

Depending on the variant, the MatePad Pro is powered by the Kirin 990 processor, although the 5G variant will feature the same Kirin 990 5G chipset from Huawei’s other 5G phones: the Mate 30 Pro 5G, P40, and the Huawei Mate Xs. Sustaining the device is a 7,250mAh battery that’s chargeable via USB-C at fast-charging speeds of 40W for SuperCharge wired charging and 27W wireless charging; reverse wireless charging is also available. Meanwhile, there’s also a Smart Magnetic Keyboard accessory that can stand at two different angles, which doubles up as a protective case for the tablet. 

The MatePad Pro will be running on EMUI 10.1 which is based on open source Android 10. Again, there’s no access to Google Mobile Services (GMS), which means that you’ll need to rely on Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and Huawei’s AppGallery for your tablet-ing needs. 

Pricing and availability

We’re expecting the Huawei MatePad Pro to go on sale in Malaysia during early April, with a 5G variant probably arriving sometime after the first release. However, Malaysian pricing details for the MatePad Pro aren’t available just yet, although there will be four colour configurations: a vegan leather finish in Forest Green and Orange, along with Pearl White and Midnight Grey in a fibreglass finish. 

Global pricing and variants are as follows:

Huawei MatePad Pro WiFi

6GB RAM+128GB storage — EUR549 (~RM2,520)

8GB RAM+256GB storage — EUR649 (~RM2979)

8GB RAM+256GB storage (M-pencil, Vegan Leather) — EUR749 (~RM3,438)

Huawei MatePad Pro LTE

6GB RAM+128GB storage — EUR599 (~RM2,749)

8GB RAM+256GB storage — EUR699 (~RM3,208)

Huawei MatePad Pro 5G

8GB RAM+256GB storage — EUR799 (~RM3,667)

8GB RAM+512GB storage — EUR949 (~RM4,356)

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