The new Huawei MatePad 10.4 is worse than before and costs more than an iPad too

If you’re in the market for a new tablet for yourself and would like to channel your inner hipster by getting one that’s not running iPadOS or Android, Huawei Malaysia has just launched their latest tablet, the Huawei MatePad 10.4 that runs on HarmonyOS 2. It’s the latest tablet named the MatePad 10.4 from Huawei, following the MatePad 10.4 from 2020 and 2021.

Huawei MatePad 10.4 Malaysian pricing and availability

There will only be one configuration of the Huawei MatePad 10.4 in Malaysia with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, as well as LTE connectivity. It’s priced at RM1,599 and pre-orders for it begin from 22 April onwards till 2 May on the Huawei Malaysia online store as well as their authorised retail partners Harvey Norman and Senheng.

If you do opt to pre-order it, you’ll be able to snag yourself some free gifts worth up to RM898, which includes the Huawei M-Pencil 2nd Generation stylus and the Huawei Smart Keyboard. The Huawei M-Pencil 2nd Generation is normally an optional purchase at RM399, while the Huawei Smart Keyboard is typically priced at RM499.

Huawei MatePad 10.4 specs

The latest generation of the Huawei MatePad 10.4 tablet, as its name implies, has a 10.4-inch, 2000 x 1200p IPS display. Its screen is capable of displaying up to 16.7 million colours and has a typical brightness of 470nits. The tablet weighs approximately 450g and measures 7.35mm thin.

Under the hood, there’s a Huawei Kirin 710A system-on-chip mated to 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Curiously, this means that the new Huawei MatePad 10.4 is actually less powerful than the last generation of the MatePad 10.4, as last year’s MatePad 10.4 used the newer Kirin 820. The entry-level Kirin 710A, fabbed by Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) since 2020, is itself a refresh of the Kirin 710 from 2018. Prior to this, the Kirin 710A used to make appearances in their budget smartphones such as the Huawei Y7a.

It should be noted though that being a Huawei tablet, there won’t be any Google apps and services installed on it. This year’s MatePad 10.4 runs on HarmonyOS 2, and features a number of optimisations for tablet usage such as multi window display and the ability to link your Huawei devices to it via Huawei Super Device.

Powering the Huawei MatePad 10.4 is a 7,250mAh battery with up to a 22.5W charging rate, though at least the charging brick is in the box. There’s a 13MP rear camera too while the front of the tablet has an 8MP selfie shooter. As for connectivity, it has Bluetooth 5.1, LTE and WiFi 5 support, which is actually a downgrade over last year’s MatePad 10.4 which supported WiFi 6. As for audio it has a quad speaker setup with a three-mic array. It comes in just one colourway, Matte Gray.

With such a steep price at RM1,599, it’ll be a tough sell for Huawei to convince Malaysians why they should get the new MatePad 10.4. Furthermore, last year’s MatePad 10.4 which is arguably the better option between the two was priced at just RM1,499 albeit without LTE support. Nevertheless, considering the MatePad 10.4’s steep asking price, you might be better off with options such as the Apple iPad that starts at RM1,499 or the Xiaomi Pad 5 that starts at RM1,399.