Huawei is not-so-subtly trolling Friday’s iPhone launch

September 21 is iPhone XS day, but it’s not only Apple that’s out pushing its products into the hands of eager smartphone buyers. Huawei, the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer, has a new phone coming in the next few weeks and wants to remind prospective iPhone buyers what they could be missing out on. (Hint: It’s the Mate 20 Pro) It’s doing so in a not-so-subtle, but rather amusing, way.

On its official U.K. mobile Twitter account, the company posted a picture of a large, Huawei-branded van parked outside the Apple Store on Regent Street in London Friday morning. It’s called the “Huawei Ju%ce Van,” and it’s a mobile phone recharging station, and a place for anyone passing the Apple Store to grab a “brain-boosting drink.” The Twitter post finishes with the words, “A #HigherIntelligence is coming,” which is a reference to the Mate 20 Pro’s launch on October 16.

If that wasn’t enough, in Singapore Huawei spent the night before the iPhone XS launch handing out smartphone power banks — approximately 200 of them, according to a local source — to those patiently waiting in the Orchard Road Apple Store queue. The 10,000mAh pack included a friendly note from Huawei too, saying, “Here’s a power bank. You’ll need it. Courtesy of Huawei.”

Huawei hasn’t been hiding its disdain for Apple’s new iPhone models since they launched. Through the Huawei Mobile Twitter account, the firm has posted several short videos, insinuating Apple’s new phones are the same as the old ones, and thanking Apple for letting Huawei be “the real hero of the year.” In July, Huawei overtook Apple to become the second-largest smartphone seller in the world, and clearly feels it has earned the right to send a few well-aimed jabs in Apple’s direction.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro will launch at an event in London on October 16. It will be powered by the new Kirin 980 processor, and it’s in relation to this that Apple got one over on Huawei. The Kirin 980 will become the second mobile chip manufactured using a 7nm process to be made available. Apple’s new A12 Bionic, inside the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, will be the first, despite being announced after Huawei’s chip. These things always go both ways.