Huawei's $54 phone promo drew queues, police — and 5,000 apology vouchers

On July 26, 2019, Huawei's Singapore National Day promotion offered the Y6 Pro smartphone at $54 — down from its $148 retail price — to customers aged 50 and above. Thousands queued for hours, but most left empty-handed: stores ran out of stock quickly, some before opening hours. Police were called to manage agitated crowds at several locations, and a 53-year-old woman was arrested for causing a commotion inside the Jem mall store when she could not buy the phone.

Disappointed customers vented on social media, saying Huawei should have made clear that quantities were limited. On July 30 the company promised $100 vouchers to around 5,000 people who had registered with stores after stocks ran out. The vouchers cut the Y6 Pro to $48 and worked on selected models such as the P30 Pro; Huawei sent them out in daily batches moderated against expected store traffic, precisely to prevent a repeat of the July 26 scenes. Retailer Courts, which had joined the promotion, ran its own $100-voucher gesture for its queues.

By August 19, nearly 2,000 of the 5,000 customers had received vouchers by SMS and about 1,000 had redeemed them. 'I wasn't expecting Huawei to contact me... The price for the Y6 Pro is also cheaper than in the first promotion, so I consider this a stroke of good luck,' said mechanic Salehim Aman, 53, who bought his phone at Jurong Point — a best case that most of the queue never got.

$100 vouchers to about 5,000 customers (against the $148 Y6 Pro or P30 models), plus police call-outs, one arrest and social-media anger.

The promotion priced a $148 phone at $54 for seniors, guaranteeing demand far beyond any plausible stock level.

Stores gave no clear communication that quantities were limited, so queuing customers believed they were buying, not lottery-entering.

Stock ran out before some stores even opened, meaning hours-long queues ended in nothing for most participants.

The distressed crowd skewed older — the promotion's own target audience — making police scenes and arrests especially reputationally costly.

A loss-leader promotion without published stock limits converts your most sympathetic audience into your most public complaint — the apology costs more than the discount did.

Huawei staggered voucher delivery through the end of August, with redemption valid for a week per recipient at 10 selected outlets and identity and QR-code checks required; Courts' parallel gesture ran until August 31 at its Tampines flagship.