No, Apple didn’t just unveil a 5G iPad – but you’d be forgiven for thinking it did. Instead, Huawei revealed its 5G tablet, dubbed the MatePad Pro, during a hardware event.
The MatePad Pro is an unabashed iPad clone. From its all-screen design with rounded corners to the Apple Pencil doppelgänger, you can’t help but feel Huawei’s hardware team had images of Apple’s iPad Pro plastered on their mood board when they put this tablet together.
That said, if you’re going to pinch a few ideas from anyone, why not do so from the tech company that completely dominates the tablet market?
The MatePad Pro and iPad Pro share a lot in common, including an admirable level of hardware quality – something you don’t really get from the (admittedly limited) other Android offerings on the market.
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Let’s start with the display. The MatePad Pro boats a 10.8-inch screen – complete with a hole punch housing a single front-facing camera – that Huawei claims totes a whopping 90 percent screen-to-body ratio.
Although the panel looks pretty, don’t expect it to topple Apple’s flagship tablet anytime soon. While the MatePad Pro totes a respectable resolution of 2560×1600, it sadly only has a refresh rate of 60Hz – that means you won’t get the buttery-smooth experience offered by the 120Hz iPad Pro.
Although Huawei smartphones are renowned for their array of cameras, like the recent Mate 30 Pro [LINK!], the Chinese tech giant has been pretty restrained with the MatePad Pro. The device only comes with a single 13-megapixel sensor that should be capable of taking decent photos (if you’re one of the surprisingly high number of people that uses the camera on their tablet). The shooter is also capable of recording in 4K at up to 30-frames-per-second.
Powering the MatePad Pro is Huawei’s in-house Kirin 990 processor that comes with built-in 5G support. So yes, this tablet is capable of delivering blisteringly fast network speeds – this is easily its greatest advantage over Apple’s iPad. Accompanying the Kirin 990 is 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/2k7_xgTyw7A
The MatePad Pro also has another trick up its sleeve that the iPad can’t match, although it’s nowhere near as profound. The tablet is capable of charging wirelessly at a rapid speed of 27W – that’s faster than most smartphones charge wired, in case you were wondering. Although seeing a huge tablet placed on a wireless charging pad is certainly comical, it can certainly be useful if you keep one by your bedside and want to give your tablet a refill overnight.
The only issue here is the fact you’ll need to pay up for Huawei’s own wireless charging pad to be able to charge you MatePad Pro wirelessly at the fastest possible speed.
Huawei’s battery technology doesn’t stop there though. The MatePad Pro also sports reverse wireless charging at a speed of 7.5W, so you can place your smartphone or a pair of headphones on its rear to charge if you’d like.
The Shenzhen company is really pushing the productivity and entertainment capabilities of the MatePad Pro. The device is capable of running up to three applications at once that’s ideal for multitasking.
The tablet also totes four speakers tuned by Harman Kardon that, although not tested extensively by Express.co.uk, should deliver decent audio when listening to music or streaming your favourite Hollywood blockbusters.
Huawei’s MatePad Pro wouldn’t be a true iPad clone without the inclusion of a stylus. Dubbed the Huawei M-Pencil, the accessory is essentially the Chinese tech giant’s version of the Apple Pencil. Everything about the M-Pencil looks and feels familiar to anyone who has seen its Apple counterpart in action, right down to the charging animation that appears on-screen when you place the device on the side of the tablet to charge.
In terms of software, the MatePad Pro runs Huawei’s EMUI 10 operating system based on Android 10. Just like new smartphones from the tech firm, the tablet won’t come with support for Google apps and services – that means you won’t find the likes of Google Maps, Gmail and Chrome on it.
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