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Huawei hijacked Apple store queues to hand out its own chargers and juice

"You'll need it."

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Zoey Chong Reporter
Zoey is CNET's Asia News Reporter based in Singapore. She prefers variety to monotony and owns an Android mobile device, a Windows PC and Apple's MacBook Pro all at the same time. Outside of the office, she can be found binging on Korean variety shows, if not chilling out with a book at a café recommended by a friend.
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Zoey Chong
2 min read
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A Huawei representative hands a power bank to fans queuing outside Singapore's Apple Store the night before the new iPhones begin sales.

 Huawei
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Apple isn't known for its iPhone's battery capacities -- and  Huawei wants to help. 

The Chinese phone maker took to the streets outside Singapore's Apple Store to give out power banks to buyers queuing to be one of the first to get Apple's newest iPhones, and conducted a similar stunt in London this morning with a "juice" van offering both electricity and drinks with "no traces of Apple."

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The Chinese phone maker wants to help users power up their new iPhones.

 Huawei

The Singapore stunt was carried out at 11 p.m. local time the night before Apple opened its doors, Huawei confirmed to CNET in an email. The reason for the friendly handout was to "offer respite from the weather and gruelling wait," according to a representative, who added that more than 200 of the company's 10,000mAh Huawei Supercharge power banks were distributed.

On the cover of the power bank's packaging is a tagline that reads, "Here's a power bank. You'll need it. Courtesy of Huawei." The move comes after a Facebook post from the day before suggesting the P20 Pro has a "looong-lasting battery."

Hello darkness, my old friend I’ve got looong-lasting battery in hand. Learn more about the #HuaweiP20Pro at bit.ly/2qma6PV

Posted by Huawei Mobile on Monday, September 17, 2018

In London, Huawei trolled Apple's flagship store by rolling up a mobile juice bar, and proceeded to hand out drinks with "no traces of apple," as well as a charging station that could plug in an armful of phones at a time.

It's not the first time Apple has had competition from Huawei, which surpassed the iPhone maker to become the world's second biggest phone seller in July. Following Apple's Sept. 12 event that revealed its new phones, Huawei CEO Richard Yu posted on his Weibo page: "No problem now, see you in London on Oct. 16!"

Huawei Mobile proceeded to post a series of similarly cryptic tweets:

Huawei users aren't too happy about the battery stunt, though, with some taking to its Facebook page to criticise the phone maker for gifting the power bank -- retailing at S$98 (about $72) -- to iPhone users instead of Huawei users.

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Originally published at 12:42 a.m. PT

Update, 9:29 a.m. PT: Added Huawei's London juice bar stunt.