Huawei is bringing its latest high-end hardware to Europe, as the updated MateBook X Pro laptop and MatePad Pro tablets make the leap from China to the Western market.
Both initially launched in China in late July, so it’s been a relatively quick turnaround for an international debut, timed to make the most of the IFA trade show in Berlin this week.
The MateBook X Pro is a premium ultrabook powered by a 12th-gen Intel i7 chip – the i7-1260P, to be precise. It’s productivity-focussed, so you won’t get a discrete GPU, but the integrated Iris Xe graphics processing should be enough for the basics.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
That trade-off makes sense when you consider how portable the X Pro 2022 is – despite a fairly spacious 14.2in display, the whole laptop weighs just 1.26kg, and at 15.6mm it’s slim too. The downside of that is that Huawei decided not to try and squeeze in full-size USB-A ports, so this is limited to USB-C and Thunderbolt 4.
The light weight is partly thanks to building the laptop from a new magnesium alloy, though thanks to what Huawei calls a “micro-arc oxidation coating,” it doesn’t feel metallic, and in fact there’s an almost soft sheen to the laptop’s blue and white finishes – with a heavier grey model also available in the company’s standard aluminium alloy design.
One fun touch is the inclusion of a haptic trackpad with some useful shortcuts: sliding your finger down either side controls either display brightness or volume, pressing into the top-right corner closes your current window, and tapping with your knuckle can take a screenshot.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
As for the MatePad Pros, there’s a pair of models: one with an 11in display, the other larger at 12.6in.
Both run HarmonyOS 3.0, the latest version of the company’s post-Android operating system, which adds new options like grouping and stacking widgets for extra flexibility in how and where you access your shortcuts and controls.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 powers both tablets, while you can also expect 120Hz OLED displays, slim designs, and large batteries with speedy 40W charging – not to mention support for the Huawei M Pencil stylus.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Alongside the high-end hardware, Huawei also gave a second European launch to the Watch D. First revealed back in May, this has now received CE certification in Europe for its ECG and blood pressure monitoring – with an inflatable strap to deliver a mini, on-the-go version of the same sort of blood pressure check you might get done at the doctor’s.
Huawei has also launched a pair of phones at IFA, the mid-range Nova 10 and Nova 10 Pro, which stand out from the pack thanks to their high-res 60Mp selfie cameras.
