Huawei challenges iPad Pro with a new tablet that looks suspiciously like the iPad Pro

Huawei has just taken the wraps off the iPad Pro. Oh no, hang on – it’s the MatePad Pro… sorry, we’re always getting those two confused. And it’s easy to see why. Huawei has clearly taken some inspiration from Apple’s hugely popular tablet range. From its display surrounded by minimal borders to its accompanying stylus, the Chinese hardware is remarkably reminiscent of the iPad Pro.

The MatePad Pro ships with a 10.8-inch display that boasts a 2K resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, the tablet doesn’t benefit from a supercharged refresh rate like the 120Hz panel seen on Apple’s iPad Pro.

With that said, the MatePad Pro’s screen is most notable for its hole punch selfie camera. Yes, those are a thing on tablets now…

Huawei declared the cutout helps the tablet to achieve a whopping 90 percent screen to body ratio. Very impressive indeed.

The back of the MatePad Pro is fairly minimalist – the device only sports its 13-megapixel rear shooter and Huawei branding here.

Internally, Huawei isn’t holding anything back. The MatePad Pro is powered by the firm’s in-house Kirin 990 chipset and totes up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Of course, the tablet will come in either Wi-Fi or LTE variants, too.

A whopping 7,250mAh battery should also keep the tablet ticking along. When you do eventually run out of juice owners have the option of refilling it with rapid 40W wired fast charging or 15W wireless charging. The Chinese tablet can also power other devices that are placed on its rear thanks to 7W reverse wireless charging support.

So Huawei has crammed the MatePad Pro with first-class hardware in an effort to challenge the iPad Pro, but can its software challenge Apple’s iPadOS? Sort of… but not quite.

Just like its newest smartphones, the MatePad Pro comes pre-installed with Huawei’s EMUI 10 skin running on top of Google’s Android operating system. The biggest thing to note here is that the hardware doesn’t come with support for Google apps or services because of a US trade ban.

That means if you pick up the Chinese tablet you won’t be able to leverage the likes of the Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, the list goes on.

Additionally, Android tablets still suffer from the age-old problem of app support. Unlike Apple’s iPadOS that has a swathe of programmes that are tailor-made for it, Android is lacking optimised apps for the larger form factor.

With that said, Huawei is still championing the entertainment and productivity functionality of the MatePad Pro. The Chinese firm is selling a keyboard case and an M Pen stylus for the device so you can finish your written documents and presentations on the fly.

The MatePad Pro will go on sale in China on December 12. The device starts at 3,299 Chinese Yuan which translates to roughly £360 for the entry-level model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Unfortunately, there’s no word on a release outside of China, but Express.co.uk will update you if or when this changes.

So should Apple be worried about Huawei’s new tablet? Probably not.

The device’s limited release and software omissions (the lack of Google support) will probably prevent it from mounting a true challenge to the iPad, assuming the US’s stance against Huawei doesn’t change of course.

source: express.co.uk