Huawei announced the MatePad Pro 12-inch with it going in sale in China. It measures 264.2 x 172.9 x 4.7 mm, weighs 439g, and starts at CNY 5,699, about KES 109,000.
Those are some really impressive figures for a 12-inch tablet. Apple’s iPad Pro 13-inch is 5.1mm thick and weighs 579g, and Apple’s launch had them making noise about just how thin that was. Huawei has gone 0.4mm thinner and 140g lighter, but still given the device an even bigger battery. It is 10,400 mAh across two cells and charges at 66W which means 0-100% full in 53 minutes.
There is also 40W reverse wired charging, so the tablet can feed your phone.
The screen is a flexible OLED panel at 3036 x 1952. It runs up to 144Hz and peaks at 1,600 nits. It uses the 3:2 aspect ratio instead of the 16:10 most Android tablets still use. That extra height is what makes a tablet usable for writing a document, or for two apps side by side.
There is a Soft Light version with the etched anti-glare glass. It costs more and adds 15g, and it is perfect for anyone who’s constantly annoyed by reflections whenever they try and use a glossy tablet outdoors.
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The tablet is powered by the Kirin T93. Huawei says the T93 is 25% quicker than the previous generation, though it has not published the benchmark behind that. A cheaper Enjoy Edition runs the slower Kirin T93A and loses the 50MP rear camera and the multispectral sensor. Both versions have a 12MP front camera, four speakers, four microphones, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. There is no cellular model and no card slot.
Prices run from CNY 5,699 (KES 109,000) for the Enjoy Edition at 12GB and 256GB, up to CNY 9,199 (KES 178,000) for a standard model with 512GB, the anti-glare screen and the keyboard.
Software complications
The tablet runs HarmonyOS 6.1. In China that means the HarmonyOS NEXT branch, which dropped Android app compatibility completely. It does not read APK files. Apps have to be rebuilt as HarmonyOS packages, and they live in the Chinese AppGallery.
If it goes outside China, that’s not yet assured, but if it does, it’ll be running EMUI a skin on top of Open Source Android. We have seen that with the Pura 90s Pro Max which went global in July. We may see the same scenario play out with the Pura X View which arrived in August.
It’ll be nice to see this tablet outside China. The MatePad Pro Max, the 13.2-inch model went global in May 2026. It could become a compelling purchase that competes with the iPad Pro for people who don’t care much about Google services. If you care about those things, a tablet I’m eyeing right now is the Honor MagicPad 4.
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