Huawei Just Dethroned Apple’s iPad Pro As The Thinnest 13-inch Tablet

Huawei has announced an all-new MatePad Pro Max tablet that aims to take on Apple with a more portable design. The 13.2-inch mobile device is thinner than iPad Pro 's astonishingly thin 5.1mm profile. Its all-metal unibody design is accompanied by a lightweight build, which helps keep the weight to a minimum, even with the keyboard case.

The MatePad Pro Max has a 13.2-inch Flexible OLED PaperMatte Display, which is Huawei's terminology for anti-reflective screen (like Apple has Nanotexture display). It features a 3,000 x 2,000-pixel resolution with support for up to 144Hz refresh rate and 1,600 nits brightness. I like its narrow bezels (3.55mm), which make the screen more immersive.

Huawei says that its engineers "redesigned both the micro-structure and etching process from the ground up," resulting in 20% more clarity over the previous generation. In my hands-on time, the screen looked easy to read on and was comfortably legible in direct light.

This display sits inside a 4.7mm thin body that weighs just 499g for the Standard variant and 509g for the PaperMatte model. For context, Apple's iPad Pro measures 5.1mm thin and weighs 579g. Both are thin and light tablets but holding the Huawei MatePad Pro with its Glide Keyboard attached is where you'll notice the weight difference. It is impressively portable.

Huawei doesn't mention the processor but it has reengineered the internal architecture for greater thermal dissipation space to minimize heating. It includes liquid metal thermal gel, which is ideally found on gaming laptops, which allows the heat to dissipate quicker than traditional thermal gels.

The Huawei MatePad Pro Max is rated to last up to 14.5 hours on continuous video playback, thanks to a huge 10,400mAh silicon-carbon battery. Huawei says it also improved the audio performance by making the six-speaker system 67% louder (as compared to the MatePad Pro 13.2 2025).

The new tablet runs HarmonyOS, which is fluid and very responsive in regular use. It has several useful builtin apps. For instance, you can sketch on GoPaint with the Huawei M Pencil Pro. I captured a few photos using the 50MP rear camera to paint on them by adding layers and choosing from a plethora of brush options. It is easy to understand and intuitive.

On the front, you get a 12MP camera, which is clear for video calls and meetings. There's a fast and accurate fingerprint sensor embedded inside the power button.

The Huawei MatePad Pro Max has will be available in three variants:

• 12GB + 256GB PaperMatte + Cover (Gray) for 1,399 euros.

• 12GB + 256GB PaperMatte + Keyboard (Gray) for 1,499 euros.

• 12GB + 512GB PaperMatte + Keyboard (Blue) for 1,649 euros.

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This article was originally published on Forbes.com