Huawei’s answer to laptop privacy: A keyboard with a pop-up webcam

Enlarge (credit: Valentina Palladino)

Mixed reviews and price outrage met the Matebook X, Huawei's first true ultrabook, when it debuted last year. But the Chinese company isn't giving up on PCs: it debuted the Matebook X Pro at this year's Mobile World Congress. The new laptop is slightly larger than its predecessor, and Huawei attempted to right some of the Matebook X's wrongs with a wider array of spec options, discrete graphics, and a tiny hidden webcam.

Let's talk about that webcam. Upon opening the Matebook X Pro, you're met with a 14-inch, 3,000 x 2,000 touchscreen with nearly nonexistent bezels on all four sides. According to Huawei, the Matebook X Pro has a 91-percent screen-to-body ratio. That's much higher than other ultrabooks considering most fit a webcam somewhere near the display panel, typically embedded on the top or bottom bezel.

To glean the most immersive screen experience possible, Huawei got creative with the webcam placement. A recessed camera lies under a camera button on the top-most row in the middle of the keyboard-give that button a press and a tiny camera pops up from the chassis.

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