Huawei’s iPad Pro Rival Looks Amazing, but You Might Not Be Able to Get It
We have a slimmer winner in the tablet world. Huawei’s new MatePad Pro Max is 4.7mm thick, making it the world’s thinnest tablet. The bad news for American buyers? You may not be able to buy it.
The Chinese company launched the device on Thursday at its Now Is Your Spark product launch event in Bangkok, but it did not announce where it would be available. The fine print on the product webpage says: “Available only in certain countries or regions.”
A Huawei representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. government is significantly limiting Huawei’s ability to sell its products in the United States due to cybersecurity concerns. However, some products are available from third-party sellers on marketplaces like Amazon.
Learn more: Best tablets in 2026: Top picks from Apple, Samsung and Amazon
The US market restrictions, however, do not seem to have harmed Huawei. The company reported a 28% increase in shipments between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026, surpassing Lenovo (20%) and Apple (8%). This is even though tablets have been “relegated in importance to suppliers in terms of margins, volume and overall value,” according to Himani Mukka, head of research at Omdia.
If US consumers manage to get their hands on the MatePad Pro Max, they’ll have a thinner tablet than the Honor MagicPad 4 (4.8mm), 13-inch iPad Pro (5.1mm), and Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra (5.1mm). The MatePad Pro Max weighs 499 grams, a little more than the Honor MagicPad 4 (450 g), but less than the iPad Pro (579 g) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra (692 g).
As for the screen, Huawei’s new tablet has a 13.2-inch OLED screen with 60% bending resistance. The screen has a resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels and a refresh rate of 44 Hz. The screen-to-body ratio is 94%. The bezel is 3.55mm wide, almost half of the iPad Pro’s 7mm.
The MatePad Pro Max also has a PaperMatte edition, which Huawei says “uses high-precision nano-level engraving to minimize glare and shine.” This version weighs 509 g.
The MatePad Pro Max is available in blue and space gray.
There is a 50MP rear camera and six speakers. Huawei claims the 10,400mAh battery provides up to 14.5 hours of local video playback and there is 40W reverse charging.
AI Features
Huawei said the AI capabilities of the MatePad Pro Max can help create documents and presentations with WPS Office AI.
With the tablet’s GoPaint app, you can use the M-Pencil Pro to create sketches and illustrations with different brush settings, including the “splatter brush,” which lets you splash color on the screen.
Other features include AI handwriting enhancement and Live-Multitask functionality, which allows the person using the device to run three windows simultaneously.
