Worlds better than Apple iPad: An astonishingly good OLED panel for midrange tablet
The display is one of the main reasons, if not the deciding factor, when buying a tablet. And this is precisely where the new Huawei MatePad Air (2026) excels in our review. The panel quality of Huawei's mid-range tablet is particularly impressive when compared with the current Apple iPad Air (2026) (available on amazom.com) and its IPS panel.
Even the specifications make it clear why the MatePad Air is well ahead. Huawei uses a 12-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2,800 x 1,840 pixels and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. The iPad Air 11, by contrast, has to make do with a slow IPS panel running at 60 Hz. In addition to the difference in refresh rate, we measured extremely short response times only on the MatePad Air. The iPad Air performs over 2,000 percent worse in this respect.
PaperMatte makes the difference with the OLED panel
Thanks to OLED technology with an anti-reflective PaperMatte surface, the MatePad Air (2026) and the iPad Air (2026) are truly in different leagues. The special surface coating reduces distracting reflections, an advantage that is particularly useful in bright rooms or when using the tablet on the go. This OLED panel almost completely eliminates the typical LCD shortcomings of earlier PaperMatte models when it comes to black levels.
The MatePad Air also clearly outperforms its Apple rival in peak brightness. In our review, we measured over 1,200 cd/m². This makes the high-contrast display over 50 percent brighter than that of the Apple iPad Air 11 (Apple M4-powered 2026 model). HDR content also benefits from the high brightness. Bright areas of the image look more striking, colors appear more vivid, and contrasts are noticeably more dynamic than on the iPad Air models.
Apple still limits the iPad Air 11 to just 60 Hz. Huawei, by contrast, offers a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz. The difference is immediately noticeable, particularly when scrolling through websites, writing with the stylus, or viewing animations. Motion looks significantly smoother. Users accustomed to a recent-generation smartphone will be especially quick to notice the iPad Air's 60 Hz refresh rate.
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