Huawei, ZTE launch products ahead of MWC

Huawei had one major product announcement during Mobile World Congress 2016: the MateBook.

Huawei MateBook comes with a 6th Gen Intel Core M processor, a 5MP front cam, separately-sold Keyboard and Stylus and pre-installed Windows 10 OS.

There’s also a fingerprint sensor on the side of the tablet and stereo speakers with Dolby Audio. Powered by Microsoft’s Windows operating system, the convertible MateBook is Huawei’s first tablet-laptop hybrid and is aimed at the business market.

Huawei has sprung one of the first major surprises at this year’s Mobile World Congress with the launch of a 2-in-1 tablet device. The screen has a smaller bezel, measuring 10 millimeters, making it compact despite its 12-inch screen. The MateBook’s price ranges from 881.47 US Dollar to 1985.81 US Dollar.

The Matebook uses the new USB-C port so there’s also an accessory that brings you additional ports in order to connect the device to VGA, HDMI, USB 3.0 and Ethernet.

“This is faster and secure which will be commercially available in the next two months (globally)”, Richard Yu, Chief Executive Officer – Consumer Business Unit, Huawei, said here. “Our relationship with Huawei is a great example of the growing ecosystem of premium portable Windows 10 devices”. It’s made of aluminum, weighs 640 grams, and has a battery that provides up to 9 hours of full HD playback, according to Huawei. The Huawei MateBook is an incredibly thin 2-in-1 that aims to take on devices like the Surface and the iPad Pro in the productivity category.

The USB Type-C port offers quick charging solutions and MateBook also offers enough media customisations through which you can save as much as 25 per cent of battery life. The keyboard features a 1.5mm keystroke and a chiclet keycap design, which allows for larger key surfaces to minimize typing errors. Huawei has been mostly known for its affordable mid-range products, but the MateBook seems to deviate from the perception. The MatePen also has a laser at its back suited for meeting presentation.

As Huawei’s recent Nexus 6P and Mate 8 smartphones have proved, the company is no stranger to equipping its devices with some serious power, and this trend continues with the MateBook.

Huawei told me that it plans to sell a number of different MateBook bundles, some of which will include the pen.