And so here we are with the latest from Huawei, which comes in the form of a new MatePad Pro and MatePad 11.5 – complete with the sort of hardware polish that many other tablet makers would be left embarrassed by.
Slim, rugged build quality and stunning screens Big batteries for long battery life Convincing keyboard and stylus experiences — on paper they should be a no-brainer when compared to the competition. In reality, it smacks once again of the same old hitch: life without proper Google Play support.
Highest-quality hardware that transcends most competitors
The MatePad Pro 12.2 goes all in on a premium tease. Its 12.2-inch OLED panel maxes out at a claimed 2,000 nits of peak brightness and the tablet’s acoustic tuning beats frequent slate-sound disappointment. At just 5.5mm thick and weighing 508g, it’ll slide into a backpack more easily than many ultrabooks. And Huawei’s multitasking is mature, too: You can have up to three app windows open at the same time, repositioned however you’d like (it feels more like a flexible desktop canvas than it does phone-first split screen).
The included glide keyboard is stable with nice travel, but the integrated touchpad is responsive—if a touch twitchy by default. Under heavy use the Pro stays fast and smooth, with a 10,100mAh battery that is designed for long hauls. Huawei’s fast charge will fill it to around 85 per cent in 44 minutes or so, which takes the sting out of road-warrior workflows.
The MatePad 11.5 skimps on the price without feeling cheap. And at 6.1mm and 515g, it’s remarkably portable, too, with a clean aluminum unibody design that comes with no easy-to-spot antenna breaks. It will not challenge OLED’s blacks, but it has a secret weapon.
Work and creativity designed for displays and input
The 11.5-inch model features a 2.5K “PaperMatte” screen offering a brightness of 600 nits and an 86% screen-to-body ratio. Its nano-etched coating brings reflections down as much as 60% over last year’s iPad, so it’s one of few tablets you can use in a brightly lit office without squinting, or outside while wearing polarized sunglasses thanks to circle polarization tech. That, combined with the new M-Pencil, whose friction feels more like a pen gliding across paper than slippery glass, is a gift to note-takers and illustrators.
The MatePad Pro strikes back with OLED’s color and contrast benefits for media editing and HDR streaming, plus Huawei’s speakers give you a wide stage of confidence. Each-Tablet-Type Went With Detachable Kayboards, Which Work To Turn Each One Into A Legitimate Ultraportable Approximate When You Find Yourself On The Go And Wanting To Travel Light.
Battery, performance, and audio
Both slates pack 10,100mAh batteries. Huawei claims a maximum 14 hours of local video playback on the 11.5 and full recharge in about 94 minutes with its 40W charging solution. On the thermal side, both devices have to manage temperatures kept in check by graphite cooling, and neither buckles under common productivity-type stacks of tasks. Audio is a standout: The 11.5’s quad speakers are surprisingly rich, and the Pro’s tuning is up there with the best in its class. Cameras are not a priority on tablets, however — the 11.5 cover scans and dials without fuss with a rear of 30MP and front of 8MP.
The common culprit: apps, services and certification
Here’s the catch. Recent Huawei phones don’t come with Google Mobile Services due to restrictions put in place by U.S. Department of Commerce rules. Which is to say, no Play Store, no Google Play billing and no official Play Services for notifications, location APIs or in-app purchases that are associated with a Google account. Huawei’s AppGallery, Petal Search and direct APK installs fill in some gaps and the company says that AppGallery reaches hundreds of millions of people every month globally — app coverage in the West still seems patchy.
In practice, that means extra steps for mainstream apps and, sometimes dead ends. For services like Netflix the AppGallery redirects you to a download an APK. That can work, but you give up seamless updates and occasionally run into compatibility quirks. We experienced instability with Prime Video on the MatePad line, too —a case in point of how DRM, device certification and lack of the Google framework can intersect. Community solutions like microG re-implement some of Play Services, but they’re incomplete or unofficial, and enterprise apps, banking applications and classroom-related software that depend on Google’s security checks could simply balk at running.
This isn’t new news; research from firms like Counterpoint Research has been pointing out for months how the lack of GMS is limiting Huawei’s appeal around the world, outside China. The hardware encourages pro-level use though whether a tablet is really a laptop replacement or not isn’t usually based on speed or battery but software friction.
Pricing and who they’re for
The MatePad Pro arrives in Europe from approximately £899 with 12GB of RAM and 512GB storage—squarely in premium territory that puts it up against devices like the iPad Air, and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S series. The MatePad 11.5 is also much more affordable from around £349, where it competes with some of the best midrange tablets.
Get the Pro if you’re looking for an OLED media machine that can handle anything you throw at it and you don’t mind living in AppGallery, web apps, and non-Google workflows. The 11.5 is the better pick for students, note takers and artists who want a less perfect, glare free canvas and long battery life for a more accessible price. In both cases, heavy Google Workspace users, or people who depend on certain DRM-protected streaming apps to get their content fix, may want to think twice before pulling the trigger.
Bottom line
Huawei’s 2025 MatePads simply nail the fundamentals gloriously: screens, sound, stamina, and accessories. If the app ecosystem were an even match for the hardware, then so too would be our recommendation of the MatePad Pro and a simple “budget killer” for the 11.5. Right now, the “usual problem” is still calling all the shots —great gadgets with asterisks.