Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 Review – Flagship powerhouse tablet with Kirin 9000s chipset and Google is ready to party

Huawei has been on a roll this year with the release of multiple tablets starting off with the MatePad 11.5 2023 and the MatePad 11 Papermatte Edition slate in the earlier half of 2023 though they’ve saved the best for last as they’re released their most powerful and innovative slate yet, the MatePad Pro 13 2024 to end the year with a bang.

Not only does it run their latest version of Harmony OS, it’s also notably the first device in Malaysia to feature their own in-house Kirin 9000s processor which is their first inhouse chipset in years.

We were provided with a sample ahead of its official Malaysia launch to put it through its paces – here’s our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review where we share whether their greatest slate for 2023 is a boom or bust!

Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review – Build and Design

Also referred to as the MatePad Pro 13.2 2024 on account of its rather unique display dimensions, the Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 is, at this point in time, the second device outside of their Mate 60 Pro to sport their own inhouse Kirin 9000s 7nm processor which was made domestically in China by SMIC and which is a wholly inhouse Huawei design, an achievement which hitherto thought impossible due to the ongoing trade embargo.

In essence, the Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 is their premier tablet designed for power users and content creators with their most powerful inhouse chipset and features their latest HarmonyOS 4.0 firmware running under the hood. 

Our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review unit is intended for the Malaysia market and comes bundled with their new and improved smart magnetic keyboard case and the new aforementioned 3rd Gen M-Pencil stylus though this arrangement may differ in other regions.

Out of the box, you get the tablet itself protected by a paper sleeve, the usual warranty paperwork as well as a proprietary Huawei-issued USB-C cable and an 88W SuperCharge charger that allows users to fast charge the tablet using Huawei’s own proprietary fast charging standard though it is easily compatible with standard issue fast charging via power delivery tech though charging speeds won’t be as fast as Huawei’s own SuperCharge tech.

Aesthetically speaking, our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review sample sports a metallic teal finish that they’ve dubbed simply as Green which also appeared on the Mate60 Pro which was not available for sale in Malaysia. The finish itself is distinctive, looks attractive and more importantly is relatively fingerprint resistant which reduces the need for frequent wipedowns. 

The backplate is mostly done up in the aforementioned Green save for the Huawei logo etched in chrome in the centre and a rounded dual camera housing perched in the corner which is its most recognisable feature when viewed from afar. While a tablet is typically the least likely choice for photography duties, the dual rear camera housing is at least capable of up to 1080p@30fps video off its 13MP F/1.8 primary autofocus camera and secondary 8MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera.

In keeping with contemporary design trends, our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review sample eschews bevelling and is otherwise flat with rounded corners and angular edges sandwiched by aluminium across its sides.

Intended to be used primarily  in landscape orientation, the top of the tablet hosts a volume rocker while the left side has the power button with the right hosting a USB-C port for charging and docking duties while the base of the tablet is otherwise bare. 

Flanking the left and right sides of the tablet are speaking grilles for the six speaker array shoehorned into the tablet that are evenly split across its both flanks.

Oddly, unlike its more affordable siblings the MatePad 11.5 2023 and the MatePad 11 PaperMatte edition, the MatePad Pro 13 2024 lacks a microSD card or SIM tray and is reliant on its own internal storage without any options for expansion. 

While our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review sample is the higher end version with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage Huawei is also offering a more affordable variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage in a black colourway.

Up front, our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review unit comes with a large 13.2-inch OLED display with 2,880 x 1,920 pixels resolution, a smooth 120hz refresh rate and 1,000 nits peak brightness. While there is a small notch up front for its single 16MP F/2.2 selfie camera, the otherwise narrow bezels all around afford it a whopping 94% screen-to-body ratio which is the first of its size in the market.

Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review – Specifications

Our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review unit aka the Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 2024 comes with the following specifications in a green colourway with 512GB storage and 12GB RAM. It also comes in a cheaper variant in black with the same accessories as with the notable difference being less storage at 256GB:

 

Price	RM4,999 (12GB RAM/512GB storage/Green), RM4,599 (12GB RAM/256GB storage/Black)
Display	13.2-inch X-True OLED, 2,880 x 1,920 pixels, 94% screen-to-body ratio, 1,000 nits peak brightness, 262 ppi, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio,  ∆E<1
Processor	Kirin 9000s
OS	HarmonyOS 4.0
Memory	12GB RAM/ 512GB storage [review unit] / 12GB RAM/256GB storage [variant]
Camera	13MP F/1.8 + 8MP F/2.2 [rear] / 16MP F/2.2 [front]
Battery	10,100mAh w/ 88W Huawei SuperCharge, 85% in 40 mins (quoted), 65 mins full charge
Size/Weight	196.1 x 289.1 x 5.5mm / 500g

Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review – Smart Magnetic Keyboard Case and M-Pencil

The provided smart magnetic keyboard case is of note and is thus far their most ergonomic design to date that blends elements from Microsoft’s Surface line-up in terms of its design with a few enhancements of its own. 

The case itself consists of two separate pieces done up in a matte white finish. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any other colour options so you’re stuck only with just matte white. One piece connects magnetically to the tablet’s backplate with a cutout for the camera housing as well as a semi-adjustable kickstand that allows you to adjust the viewing angle from near vertical all the way to a near-flat layout optimised for stylus usage. 

The second piece of the smart magnetic keyboard case features a keyboard and a generously sized touchpad which is a first for their entire MatePad series and a rarity in many competing tablets.

What makes the keyboard design unique is that it connects to the tablet’s backplate via a magnetic strip which can be detached at will while remaining connected via Bluetooth. This enables the keyboard to detach and continue functioning a modest distance away from the Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024, allowing for a more comfortable viewing distance when using the keyboard.

While it doesn’t look any different from its predecessors, the 3rd gen M-Pencil stylus uses Huawei’s own NearLink tech that offers enhanced responsiveness and reduced latency superior to many other styli. 

According to Huawei, the new M-Pencil stylus has a whopping 0ms latency meaning that it has an instant response when you draw on the tablet and 10,000 levels of pressure sensitivity; most tablet styluses typically max out at 4,096 levels which means that it is literally twice as responsive and fast as most of the competition. Charging it requires you to dock it with the pointy bit facing leftwards.

Overall build quality is solid as tablets go and the whole affair including its bundled accessories feels wonderfully top-shelf though it is unfortunately not dust or water resistant which is something typically expected of a slate with this price range so some care needs to be taken when you tote this about. 

Perhaps the only quibble here is that the nature of its kickstand case design means that it isn’t particularly ideal for use in a bus or train as it requires additional space on your lap which is a luxury seeing how cramped public transport is especially during rush hour. 

Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review – Performance, benchmarks and does it run Google apps?

In terms of hardware, our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review unit runs their own Harmony OS 4.0 firmware with apps sourced off the Huawei AppGallery on their inhouse Kirin 9000s processor. 

Of recent vintage and an entirely inhouse chip design that is manufactured by SMIC, the Kirin 9000s is built on a 7nm process and consists of  an interesting 1+3+4 core setup that has a main core running at 2.62GHz, a trio of cores running at 2.15GHz and a quartet of smaller cores running at 1.5GHz.

Broadly speaking, the Kirin 9000s processor has a performance envelope somewhat akin to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. Granted, it’s a step or so behind the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 series processors but it’s still plenty powerful and quite quite a feat seeing the fact that they’ve managed to achieve a level of performance in chip production in such a short period of time.

Running under the hood is the latest version of their HarmonyOS 4.0 firmware which powers their tablets and which sources apps primarily from the Huawei AppGallery. It takes a leaf from iPad OS with a popular apps and recently used apps tab at the bottom for easy access to apps and has Google apps support via the Lighthouse app and in some cases, via Gbox. 

Unlike the earlier versions that we’ve seen that required manual intervention to install and run Lighthouse and Gbox, our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review sample handled it all in the background and simply selecting the usual Google apps like Gmail, Chrome and YouTube will have them installed in the background after a prompt. After logging in to your Google account details, the Google apps run in a normal fashion.

Not all apps are on the AppGallery though and some need to be sideloaded off app repositories like APKPure but they’ve made the process more seamless than ever before though there are occasional hiccups such as when there are differing versions of an app intended for different regions.

Another quirk of HarmonyOS 4.0 is that the app lacks the ability to assign virtual RAM off onboard storage which is a feature many recent phones and tablets have but the provided 12GB RAM is plenty for a tablet. When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, the tablet scored the following:

3D Mark Wild Life	3,975
3D Mark Wild Life Unlimited	3,814
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	1,055
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	1,024
Geekbench 6 Single Core	864
Geekbench 6 Multi Core	3,403
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	2,349
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	2006
PC Mark Work 3.0	10,427

Overall performance is somewhat comparable to a Snapdragon 888 processor though it doesn’t tell the full story as the memory management on HarmonyOS as well as an enhanced vapour chamber ensures that they derive every ounce of performance possible. 

Another upgrade to ensure superior sustained performance is the inclusion of a new stamped stainless steel vapour chamber design that snakes its way across the backplate that is 37% lighter than the traditional copper vapour chambers used in other competing designs for better sustained performance.

In general usage, our  Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review unit did not disappoint and general tasks like web browsing, paperwork and gaming ran smoothly without issue.

Multi-app multitasking was a doddle and Google’s usual suite of apps ran in a normal fashion without issue with Google Docs and Sheets running smoothly while Gmail rustled up email without problems. YouTube required a background install of Gbox that was done automatically but videos ran normally. 

Students and mobile workers will also appreciate the inclusion of a free preinstalled copy of PC-level WPS office suite that offers the full set of fonts, settings and options typically offered in a PC-level productivity suite from Microsoft Office. This makes working offline and on the go an easier task, also helped in part by the exceptional keyboard case. 

The provided 3rd gen M-pencil certainly felt swift and responsive with artists and content creators likely able to take full advantage of its improved 10,000 levels of pressure sensitivity and 0ms latency though our banal attempts at art did feel smoother and faster.

The addition of a touchpad and its ability to detach and work within a metre or so away from the tablet itself means that you can work on it like a desktop PC rather than having to hunch over like a normal laptop.

On the gaming front, the tablet managed to run Call of Duty Mobile on near maximum settings and Diablo Immortal and Genshin Impact on default settings. Even after several hours of bashing the hordes of hell in Diablo Immortal, the improved vapour chamber proved its worth and kept the heat down to pleasantly balmy temperatures .

The 13.2-inch 120Hz OLED display is among the best on test with its 94% screen-to-body ratio ensuring exceptional screen real estate in a compact form factor typically afforded to a smaller 12-inch slate. Screen clarity is excellent and according to Huawei, the display itself is rated for DCI-P3 with a ∆E<1 which ensures that depicted colours are exceptionally accurate.

Seeing the responsiveness of the stylus, the Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 makes for a viable option for artists though access to the usual popular apps like Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop Express does require users to sideload them first off APKPure.

Work aside, the luscious display on our Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review sample makes it great for watching movies in tandem with its six-speaker array and I managed to catch up on my Mandalorian backlog on the commute.

On that note, the tablet’s 10,100mAh battery offers exceptional endurance. While PCMark’s battery life test wasn’t able to be installed to benchmark the battery on our sample, its hefty battery and inference from prior reviews means that it’s easily able to offer two days worth of endurance with normal usage.

On a cursory test run, it managed to tackle word processing, web browsing, quite a few TV shows and a couple of hours of gaming for two back-to-back days with enough juice to spare for reading books on the commute home. Charging is gratifyingly fast on the 88W provided Huawei SuperCharge charger with an 85% charge in just over 40 minutes which is impressive for a battery this large.

Should you buy the Huawei Matepad Pro 13 2024?

As Huawei’s most powerful tablet in the market at this current point in time, the Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 offers an excellent OLED display and otherwise solid performance off its Kirin 9000s processor while retaining access to Google’s suite of apps. Granted, it doesn’t come cheap but it still offers excellent value as you get both the stylus and keyboard bundled with the tablet itself rather than being nickel and dimed for each individually.

The provided smart magnetic keyboard case makes typing and work a more pleasant affair while the impressive responsiveness of the 3rd Gen M-Pencil stylus makes doodling and writing a joy, making the Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 a highly portable and effective general computing device to get paperwork done on the go as well as being a useful platform for artists and prolific note takers.

Huawei MatePad Pro 13 2024 review sample courtesy of Huawei Malaysia. For more details please visit https://consumer.huawei.com/my/