Huawei MatePad Pro review - Top-tier Android tablet with an app-chilles heel - Android

The Android tablet market is on life support, but there are still a few holdouts that refuse to wave the white flag. One of the brands at the forefront of the charge is Huawei, which has dominated the mid- and entry-level tiers with affordable tablets, while also occasionally testing the waters with a higher-spec slate.

With the MatePad Pro, Huawei is taking the flagship tablet space seriously. Is the MatePad Pro the iPad Pro killer that Android fans have been waiting for?

This is Android Authority’s Huawei MatePad Pro review.

Huawei MatePad Pro review: The big picture

While Huawei has dabbled with high-end tablets with its M series, the MatePad Pro is the first to bear the “Mate” brand. This is a firm statement of intent as the Shenzhen firm traditionally reserves the moniker for its elite products, such as the Mate smartphone series and MateBook laptop line. In addition to a Wi-Fi-only MatePad Pro model, Huawei also offers an LTE variant and a 5G model.

With very few rivals in the Android space, and Chrome OS tablets barely getting out of first gear, the MatePad Pro’s only real competition from within the Android world is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 — one of the best Android tablets to date.

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Of course, the real target to beat is Apple. The perennial market leader has an iron grip on the premium tablet market and Huawei faces an uphill battle if it wants to completely usurp the Cupertino giant’s ever-popular iPad Pro series — especially with the US trade ban restricting its access to Google Mobile Services.

The Huawei MatePad Pro price starts from £499 in the UK and €549 in Europe (~$593). It will go on sale via Huawei’s Online Store from May 8.

How is the design?

Huawei went all out with the design of the MatePad Pro and while it doesn’t stray too far from the big slab of metal with a big screen blueprint, there are a few tweaks here that separate it from the pack.

The MatePad Pro comes in four different colors. The Forest Green and Orange colorways come with a vegan leather back, while the Midnight Grey (tested) and Pearl White models opt for a fiberglass chassis paired with an aluminum frame.

Whichever you go for, the MatePad Pro looks and feels like a premium tablet. It’s 10g lighter than the 2020 iPad Pro (11-inch) and the weight distribution is spot on.

The 10.8-inch display adopts the punch-hole selfie camera design found on most of 2020’s top smartphones, including Huawei’s own P40 series.

The punch-hole display helps accommodate the tablet’s industry-leading 90% screen-to-body ratio, which easily beats out the iPad Pro (~82.9%) and Tab S6 (~82.5%). I found the camera hole was small enough to go unnoticed during everyday use.

The MatePad Pro looks and feels like a premium tablet.

Otherwise, the LCD QHD panel (2,560 x 1,600) is colorful and gets plenty bright. It can’t match the 120Hz refresh rate found on the iPad Pro or the vibrancy of Samsung’s AMOLED panels, but I didn’t have any complaints overall.

The only design problem I have is the minimal number of security options. With no fingerprint sensor, you’re left with a traditional password or PIN, as well as face unlock, though this is software-based.

What’s performance like?

The MatePad Pro is powered by Huawei’s custom Kirin 990 processor, complete with a dual NPU and 6GB RAM as standard (8GB for the 5G models). We already know Huawei’s top SoC is a capable performer and that holds true for the MatePad Pro. Animations are smooth, RAM management is impressive, and it handles 3D gaming with no hiccups.

Read more: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 vs Kirin 990 vs Exynos 990: How do they compare?

On the storage front, the base Wi-Fi model comes with 128GB storage which matches the iPad Pro and Galaxy Tab S6. If you want more memory there’s a 256GB variant, or you can add an extra 256GB via an expandable storage slot. Unfortunately, you’ll need to buy one of Huawei’s proprietary (and fairly pricey) Nano Memory cards instead of a regular MicroSD card.