9 Facts About the Huawei Saga You Probably Didn’t Know About

Two days ago, Huawei wanted to celebrate National Day with the people who built this country.

But as we’d all know, it became a disaster, as angry elderly queued up way before the shops open only to realise that the phones are either sold out or there were only 20 to 40 units available in each outlet.

But do you know that while the list price of the phone is at $198, the selling price is actually lower, at about $148 to $158? And that they’re still advertising the phone at $54 in Google ads even as of today (28 July 2019)? And most importantly, they’ve claimed that the model is apparently now out of stock?

Here are nine facts about the Huawei saga you probably didn’t know about.

Before the Promotion, People Asked on Facebook on How Many Units Are Available

At least two people who could time travel decided to ask how many units would be available a day before the promotion starts…

…and Huawei then replied with these:

And of course, another time traveller decided to just to ask the staff in an outlet and this is what she allegedly wrote:

And well, Huawei didn’t respond to that.

Moral of the story? Be a time traveller.

Extensive Promotion on the Internet

So, maybe Huawei didn’t expect the turnout. After all, they’re not time travellers.

But still, they had the budget to advertise it online instead of selling the phones at a loss.

This video, from what we see, isn’t cheap to make. And it’s got well over 331 Shares.

And another post garnered well over one thou—oh, wait.

I can’t find the post that their Facebook Page shared in their Facebook Page anymore. It’s an article by Vulcan Post about the promotion, and last I remember, it had about 1,000 Shares, with it being “sponsored” to my Facebook newsfeed as well.

Well, I supposed you’d have seen that as well. If not how would you know about this promotion?

And while this can’t be verified, there were also images circulating around about an ad they put in the newspaper.

Selling Price of Phone is Between $148 to $158

So, we’re all inclined to think that if we buy the phone at $54, we’d be essentially saving $144.

That’s a lot of money.

But what if I tell you that you’re saving less than $100?

Go online and you’d see that the phone is being sold at $148—brand new.

And to confirm that, someone was in a shop (before the promotion) to take a look at the phone and ta-da:

While the phone might be technically listed at $198, do we really look at the list price instead of the retail price?

Or do we need a P30 to zoom in to see the real price?

All Huawei Outlets Closed That Day…Except for One

Lest you’re not aware, all except one Huawei outlets had to close for “safety and security reasons” on that fateful day.

And the only outlet that’s still open (at least according to what’s mentioned in their Facebook Page)?

Not, it’s not the one in Yishun.

It’s Sim Lim Square.

The spirit of Jover Chew must have protected that mall.

Huawei Outlets Ran Out of Stock for This Model

To put this into perspectives, if each outlet has an average of, say, 30 units, and with 19 shops (including COURTS and Challenger) selling them, that would be about 570 units of Huawei Y6 Pro that Huawei has in stock.

According to The Straits Times, they released this statement to explain their stand: “We are truly sorry to have disappointed those who have shown your support from early morning… Y6 Pro 2019 handsets have been sold out island-wide and have recorded an unprecedented surge of demand.

“The company would like to thank members of the public for their continued support and regrets the insufficient supply for the masses.”

Oh. You’re most welcome.

A Woman Fainted & Another Woman Arrested

If you’ve been coming to our app daily, you’d know about these incidents.

On that day, a woman fainted in Jurong Point, allegedly due to the $54 phone. Thankfully, the kampung spirit was there as another woman helped her.

And on the same day, the kiasu spirit went on overdrive for one woman, who has to be arrested in Jem.

But other than these, there has been no other reported incidents from this ordeal.

Ad Still Online

Go head, Google “huawei y6 pro” and take note of what you see.

Other than news reports, you’d also see this ad:

This is a Google Ad, in which a company (in this case, either Huawei or their advertising agency) pays Google to put their ads on the top of the search results when someone Googles certain keywords. If you click in, Google will earn some money and Huawei has to pay Google.

This is usually done in real-time and at any point, the advertiser can halt the distribution of the ads.

So either someone’s head’s going to roll or somewhere in the deep corners of Yishun, a hidden Huawei outlet is still selling the phone.

Huawei Y6 Pro: Good Phone for Its Price

If there’s something Huawei has done right, it’s publicity.

Before this, I didn’t even know that Huawei has a budget phone, and this piqued my interest. Surprisingly, this affordable phone has rather powerful specs: launched in February this year, it has a 3GB Ram and an internal storage of 32 GB. It also runs the latest Android version and has a Quad-core CPU—all with a price tag of less than $150 without a contract.

If this isn’t out of stock, I’ll have bought it as a spare phone or for reservist.

Posters Still in Stores

I was in a Challenger outlet yesterday and a poster of “Huawei Y6 Pro: Sold Out” was prominently placed at the entrance. If my editor had told me to write this article earlier, I’d have taken an image to show you guys.

I’m guessing that with ads, people are still coming in yesterday and today to ask for the phone.

Or maybe…this isn’t a marketing campaign, but a pure publicity campaign?