Small tablets are a rare breed these days, with most manufacturers pushing large, laptop-sized screens. But HUAWEI is betting big on the compact form factor. The HUAWEI MatePad Mini is now officially up for preorder in the Philippines, targeting creatives and on-the-go professionals who want power without the bulk.
If you’ve been waiting for a premium, 8-inch slate that isn’t an Apple iPad Mini, this is the device you’ll want to look at. The MatePad Mini is priced at ₱42,999 (roughly $700), putting it firmly in the premium category.
The early-bird window is tight, running only from July 1 to July 9. During this period, HUAWEI is bundling up to ₱19,496 ($317) worth of freebies. That preorder package includes the HUAWEI M-Pencil Pro, a custom Flipcover, a PC-level WPS Office license, and premium services like screen care and battery replacement.
The HUAWEI MatePad Mini isn’t new to us. While the tablet originally launched in China last year and had its global rollout in Feb. 2026, we actually got some hands-on time with it during the company’s Now Is Your Spark launch event in Bangkok in May.
It is remarkably compact. As you can see in our post from that time, the tablet is just about the size of a human face — a legitimate face-to-face showdown. At only 255 grams and 5.1mm thick, it’s designed to slip into a slim bag and be pulled out with ease, even in crowded places.
The Philippine market gets the MatePad Mini in a subtle green color, equipped with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
The highlight here is the 8.8-inch flexible OLED PaperMatte display. We’ve seen HUAWEI use this matte-textured glass on its larger laptops and tablets, and it changes how you interact with the screen. It diffuses harsh reflections, making it exceptionally readable outdoors, and provides a tactile, paper-like resistance when you drag the M-Pencil Pro across it. With a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, it doesn’t sacrifice sharpness or fluidity for that matte finish.
A hexa-core Kirin 9010B processor handles heavy web browsing, photo editing, and sketching sessions. To back up that power, the tablet integrates deep software features designed to leverage the stylus. For digital artists, the AI-powered GoPaint app packed inside offers more than 150 preset brushes and an Intelligent Color Card function that extracts color palettes directly from photos. It is also built to natively support the M-Pencil Pro, letting you pinch the stylus to pull up a handy radial shortcut menu on the fly.
For note-takers, the AI-powered HUAWEI Notes app brings a significant productivity boost despite the small screen real estate. The application includes a template-filled Resource Center, a Note Replay feature for smart voice recording and playback synchronization, and an AI Equation Recognition tool that serves up instant answers when you circle a handwritten math equation.
Keeping the lights on is a 6,400mAh battery that supports 66-watt fast charging. You can read more about the HUAWEI MatePad Mini here.
HUAWEI MatePad Mini specs (Philippines)
- 8.8-inch Flexible OLED PaperMatte Display, 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
- Hexa-core Huawei Kirin 9010B processor
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB storage
- 50-megapixel main rear camera
- 32-megapixel front camera
- 6,400mAh battery with 66-watt fast charging
- Huawei M-Pencil Pro stylus support
- HarmonyOS
- Color: Green
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