Huawei unveils new laptop, tablets, and ‘earbuds’ at MEA launch

Chinese tech company Huawei has just announced a bevy of new devices at a global launch in Dubai, for the second time this year.

Following on from the company’s flagship launch earlier this year, Huawei has just unveiled a refreshed Matebook D 16, its largest tablet yet the MatePad Pro 13.2in, a new MatePad Air with the company’s PaperMatte display technology, and an interesting-looking set of ‘earbuds’ called the FreeClip.

Huawei doing tonight?

We’ve all seen laptops and tablets before, the FreeClips and their ball-and-chain-looking “open-ear design” have managed to stand out. Whether that translates into passable audio and the durability to withstand multiple trips to and from ears, remains to be seen. However, Huawei says they’ve undergone “over 25,000 reliability tests” so that ought to mean something.

Instead of living inside your ear like other in-ear headphones, the FreeClip hangs around, quite literally, on the outside of your ear. They’re trying to pull a similar move to Sony’s Linkbuds in that they aren’t meant to isolate you and your tunes from the outside world but will allow you to bop along while nodding attentively at your colleague.

Technical details were a little light at the launch but we do know that the buds come with an IP54 rating and can provide eight hours of playback or up to 36 hours with the case with a 10-minute charge giving you three more hours of music. Stay tuned for the local price and availability date.

Coming to your hands soon

If your hands are begging to hold something new and 13 inches big, Huawei’s new MatePad Pro 13.2in is the company’s latest flagship tablet and marks another step in the company’s journey to tablet market dominance. That’s probably the vision, anyway. The tablet’s new display tech, called ‘X-True Display’, along with the ability to hit 144Hz and an impressive 94% screen-to-body ratio go a long way to help that cause.

Doodlers will be happy to know that the 3rd generation M-Pencil is launching alongside the flagship tablet that boasts improved latency and 10,000 levels of pressure sensitivity. When words are required, it supports Huawei’s smart magnetic keyboard. If this sounds appealing, we’ll keep you posted for the local price and availability date.

Not much of a doodler? Then you’ll probably be more interested in the refreshed MatePad Air which, for the first time, features Huawei’s PaperMatte display technology. It uses a “nano-level anti-glare etching technology” to combat reflections and glare in the name of reducing eye strain.

Prepare your laps (and desks)

The laptop receiving attention this trip is the Matebook D 16. As you might surmise from the name, it’s a 16-incher from the Matebook D range — which falls somewhere between the budget-focused Matebook E and the upper-mid non-lettered Matebook. Huawei haven’t taken any risks with the design so if you’ve seen an earlier Matebook D you’ll know what to expect.

Apart from the slightly larger 16in 16:10 display, the excitement here is the promise of serious power. We’ll have to wait until January 2024 to explore the other technical details in depth but we do know that it’ll come packing an Intel Core i9-13900H processor. We’ll also learn how much it’ll cost and when you can get your hands on one next month.