Chinese technology giant Huawei is preparing to rain on Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC)’s parade.
Specifically, Huawei reportedly hopes to overshadow Apple’s hotly anticipated iPhone 16 reveal scheduled for next Monday with its own simultaneous handheld announcement.
English-language newspaper Shanghai Daily Tweeted a screenshot of a Weibo post from Richard Yu, chairman of Huawei's consumer business group, containing a statement translated as: “Huawei's most groundbreaking, innovative, and disruptive product is coming!"
#Huawei today announced their new product launch event for Sep 10 at 2:30 PM (UTC+8)- the same day as #Apple's! Richard Yu, chairman of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, reposted on Weibo, saying, "Huawei's most groundbreaking, innovative, and disruptive product is coming!"… pic.twitter.com/SJR3varcQG
— Shanghai Daily (@shanghaidaily) September 2, 2024
Huawei has priors when it comes to trolling Apple.
In 2018, the Chinese phone maker crashed the launch day of the iPhone XS model by parking a juice van outside Apple flagship Regent Street store in London.
iPhone enthusiasts were able to purchase apple-free beverages from a black van emblazoned with the words ‘JU%CE that lasts’ simply by Tweeting with the hashtag #HigherIntelligence.
The stunt was intended to mock what Huawei considered as the iPhone's inferior battery life.
Apple undoubtedly had the last laugh when Huawei came under heavy US sanctions in the years that followed, which effectively destroyed Huawei’s non-Chinese business operations.
In 2022, the UK government told Huawei it must leave the 5G network by 2027 under guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
But Huawei remains a prominent phone maker in China, a market of utmost importance for Apple.
This puts the two giants on a collision course in the weeks ahead as both prepare to launch their latest handhelds.
The iPhone 16 is set to be unveiled on Monday, September 9, before Huawei unveils its competing handheld of as-yet-unknown name mere hours later.
Apple is expected to disclose a new chipset and possibly a new button, but Huawei is rumoured to have something bigger up its sleeve.
Yu was recently photographed with what appears to be a tri-folding prototype which could turn the smartphone world on its head- if the execution is right.
Image credit: GSMArena