All iPhone 17s sold out in a flash in China! Huawei is furious! Buying Huawei is asking for regret!

It's absolutely insane. Just look at this. People are swarming the Apple Store in numbers you can't even imagine. The staff already said the line hit its maximum and no one else should queue, yet people are still flooding in. Follow my camera. This entire site is crammed with bodies. Keep moving forward. The line stretches endlessly. They haven't even reached the door, and still it keeps going. Look at this ocean of people. It feels like half of Shenzhen showed up. And yes, they're all here for iPhones. When I came early this morning, the line already snaked to the far end of the mall's first floor. It's madness. We're talking thousands of people, so why are iPhones this irresistible? First, Apple never stuffs its phones with ads. Second, Apple never sneaks in downloads you didn't agree to. Think about it. Androids can cost anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of yuan. But which one offers this level of respect for the user? And here's the kicker. Apple phones just last. People keep using the same device for four or five years without a hitch. Take the iPhone 11, five years old and still solid. Users don't even feel pressured to upgrade. Tell me, do you feel the same? Now, let's be real about Huawei. Sure, its chips handle lightweight apps and casual games, but when it comes to heavy-duty gaming, it's no match for consoles. Treat Huawei as a business phone, not a gaming beast. And here's another thing. For years, I couldn't figure out why no one dared criticize Huawei online. Now it's obvious. Are they pouring research money into hiring an army of trolls? I complained about a Huawei screen vibration issue, and people accused me of not disabling random apps. But I had. The problem still existed, and countless others confirmed it. Why deny it? On top of that, the phones are overpriced. The differences between the base and pro versions are fuzzy. The specs feel watered down, and the so-called new model is running last-gen 79-node and 10-chips. Yet it costs over 5,000 yuan. Even someone like me can see it's overpriced. Meanwhile, despite trade wars and anti-American propaganda urging people to boycott Apple, reality speaks louder. Every Apple launch turns into a frenzy. Chinese consumers aren't buying into slogans. They're voting with their wallets. On September 12th at 8 p.m., Apple opened pre-orders for the iPhone 17 series. Within minutes, all three models were sold out. Traffic was so intense that Apple's official website temporarily crashed. During pre-sales, the site wouldn't even load. Stuck on the welcome page for four long minutes. When it finally redirected, everything was gone. As one netizen put it, Apple may not dominate online debates, but it never loses in sales. Why? Because Apple delivers. The phones run with unmatched smoothness. Once you're used to iOS, switching back to Android feels like stepping into lag city. And durability? Some people are still using the iPhone XS Max from seven years ago. Try finding an Android of the same age still in action. So why do lifelong Android users suddenly convert to Apple? Today, let's break down the real advantages. And just to be clear, I'm a patriotic Chinese person, but facts are facts. Let's face it. When it comes to iOS, Apple reigns. The closed system and privacy protection of Apple's iOS remain unmatched by Android or any other platform. Ever wonder why people say 128 gigabyte iPhone feels like a 256 gigabyte Android? Simple. iPhones don't hoard junk files and don't flood you with ads. Take a 256 gigabyte Android, for instance. Even without downloading games, you'll see the storage mysteriously fill up. Restore it to factory settings, and the garbage still lingers, permanently stuck. Apple is different. As long as you don't download anything new, storage stays clean. No hidden junk, no bloat. That's something Android truly can't compete with. On August 16th, Apple opened its third Shenzhen retail store on the first floor of Qianhai Yifangcheng Bao'an district. The night before, staff were already handing out numbered wristbands. By 8 a.m., over a thousand were gone. Mr. Wu, the lucky 001, was the first to step inside. He told reporters he arrived at 8 a.m. on August 15th, flying from Ningbo to Guangzhou, then on to Shenzhen. He waited 26 hours straight just to be first on opening day. It's pure passion, he said with a grin. And he wasn't alone. Many Apple fans camped out all night. Some scrolled on their phones while sitting on the floor. Others simply slept in line. The queue stretched dozens of meters. Half an hour before doors opened, over a hundred Apple staff waved enthusiastically from inside, then rushed out to interact with the crowd. The atmosphere instantly exploded into cheers. One blogger, a phone repairman, was asked, Apple or Huawei, if both are high-end? His answer was sharp. Apple, no question. Of course it's Apple. Huawei can't touch Apple. Apple's A18 3nm processor runs circles around Huawei's Harmony OS with the 7nm Kirin 9220. Apple is at least two generations ahead. And the OS? iOS is the most secure and clutter-free system out there. I still use my iPhone 5s. Smooth after years. Huawei's Harmony OS lags after two years and isn't even compatible with all apps. He added that Apple holds value like no other. An iPhone loses maybe 1,000 yuan after a year. A Huawei? You're down 2,000, 3,000 yuan in just two months. Another Huawei user admitted frustration with her P70. I've been loyal to Huawei, but this one's driving me crazy. After less than a year, it overheats constantly. Use it for a few minutes and it gets scorching hot. The battery drains fast. I used to charge once a day. Now it's two or three times. It's exhausting. She bought the 121Ti model for video editing, but the reality was disappointing. After importing clips into Jianying, the phone lagged, audio and video went out of sync, and editing became unbearable. Video recording quality also fell short. Photos looked sharp and colorful, but videos turned out washed out and low-res. Worse, while scrolling TikTok, the screen would go black and the app freeze, forcing her to restart. Searching online, she found countless users reporting the same issues. She admitted it's simply not fit for self-media work, and after a year, she's already planning to replace it. So which phone truly leads? Huawei or Apple? The answer today is eye-opening. Years ago, Huawei won on price-to-performance. Cheap yet decent. But now, Huawei phones are absurdly expensive, often pricier than Apple, yet with fewer premium features. The irony is hard to miss. Apple, an American brand with tariffs, is cheaper than Huawei, a domestic brand. Huawei is marketed as luxury, but the reality? Easily 10,000 yuan, with little to justify the price. The blogger said that Apple phones have a longer lifespan than Huawei phones. You can buy an iPhone and it won't lag for two, even four or five years. He said he's currently using an iPhone 13, and it hasn't lagged at all for years. Huawei phones, on the other hand, become very slow after just one or two years. Young people love taking photos and videos. The blogger believes that while Huawei phones have high resolution, the photos they take aren't as good-looking as those taken with iPhones. Since the Huawei Mate 70's initial release, the more I've used it, the less I've enjoyed it. It's had quite a few issues, truly proving the saying, no one is perfect, no phone is perfect. Many people have complained about the side ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which is sometimes unresponsive. And with this phone, the black border is quite noticeable. Even with a full-body case, the border still shows through. The blogger said that when using this Huawei phone, she suddenly noticed a strong vibration when the speaker was turned on. She could feel it clearly when she placed her hand over it. She said people online suggested disabling the developer mode setting would fix the problem, but she had already disabled it, and the vibration was still there. I just bought a new Huawei, and it's so frustrating to use. It doesn't even have location sharing. The TikTok version doesn't work, and there's no group buy option. I have to download this before anything else. It's simply incompatible with the system, and many apps only work with the lowest version. I spent thousands of dollars on a very outdated phone. This blogger said that anyone who dares to criticize Huawei gets attacked online. This is the reality. Those who point out problems with Huawei phones are people who have actually owned and used them, sharing their personal experiences. Doesn't that count as supporting domestic products? Doesn't that count as fair criticism rather than bashing Huawei? Pointing out a phone's shortcomings and expressing genuine user experiences is meant to encourage improvement, development, and a better user experience. But now, anyone who dares to speak up gets criticized online and accused of deliberately smearing Huawei. Once you've tried HarmonyOS 5.0, you won't want to use it anymore because its software ecosystem is so outdated and many features are incomplete. So if Huawei were to release a mass-market phone with this system and sell it like crazy, but consumers didn't get the software they wanted, of course I'd criticize Huawei. Who else should I criticize? Consumers don't care. I buy a phone to use it. https://www.secretchina.com, News B5, 2025, 09, 18, 10 and 88. Let me show you how young Chinese are surviving through extreme saving. One man who moved to Guangdong in 2005 says he never eats out. At 11.35am, he went to the supermarket and spent just 7.5 yuan on tofu and pork to make cabbage stew. Every day after work, I cook at home, he says. When colleagues invite me to dinner, I refuse, because 100 yuan at a restaurant could instead buy me 3 jin of pork, 30 eggs, 10 jin of rice, and a bucket of oil. Enough food for two weeks. As China's economy slumps, the real estate market crashes, and youth unemployment stays painfully high. Consumer confidence has collapsed. In response, a wave of revenge saving is sweeping across the country. On social media, hashtags like saving campaign, saving check-in, and gold bean saving are going viral. One blogger, born in the 1990s, shows how she and her husband survive on extreme frugality. Spotting a watermelon on sale, she buys only half. The flesh becomes dessert, while the rind is stir-fried into a spicy dish for dinner. We never order take-out, she says, a home-cooked meal for a few yuan last days, while fast food costs more than 10 yuan for just one meal. People say we don't know how to enjoy life. The truth is, making money is so hard now, and life costs money everywhere. We can only save little by little. She skips milk, tea, and coffee, drinking plain water instead. Why waste money on sugar and caffeine when a cup costs over 10 yuan, she asks. Cooking at home is healthier and safer, and it saves money. Earning only 3,000 yuan a month, she manages to save 18,000 yuan a year through strict discipline. Her secret? Every month, she deposits 1,500 yuan into a one-year paper certificate of deposit. By the 13th month, the first one matures. She reinvests the principal and interest along with the next 1,500 yuan. Over time, she holds 12 certificates, one maturing each month, creating a rolling cycle of savings. Once you start, you'll want to continue, she says. The habit snowballs, and your money grows. But if you live paycheck to paycheck, 10 years will pass and you'll have nothing. Now, this frugal couple with three children owns a car, a house, and steady savings. Their monthly food bill is under 1,000 yuan. How do they do it? By following what they call the five no's. No takeout, no eating out, no luxuries, no waste, no excuses. For them, saving isn't just a habit, it's survival. The blogger shared that she rarely buys clothes and never chases after designer brands. A 10 yuan t-shirt is enough to last her all summer. Her husband doesn't smoke, drink, gamble, or hang out socially. He works at a construction site, and on days off, he delivers food. In recent years, with money getting harder and harder to earn, she realized saving is no longer a choice but a necessity. She even collects used cardboard boxes, exchanging them for eggs whenever she has enough. Don't listen to the lies online about enjoying life while you can. You must save more. In today's world, having savings, 20,000, 30,000, 100,000, or 200,000 yuan, gives you true peace of mind. Don't fall for the sweet talk that money is earned, not saved, that you should live like every day is your last, or spend without worry. Those are illusions meant to trap you. Picture this. A family member suddenly falls sick, or an emergency hits, and you don't even have 10,000 yuan on hand. You beg for help, but everyone looks at you with pity or disdain. That helplessness, that humiliation, you'll never forget it. She explained that once saving becomes a habit, you won't panic when life throws challenges at you. Instead, you'll feel safer, more fulfilled, and more stable as time goes on. Both she and her husband grew up in rural villages. Through years of relentless effort, they managed to buy a house four years ago. Many ask how ordinary office workers can actually save money. They revealed three golden rules for saving. First, learn to control monthly spending. Before buying anything, always ask yourself, do I really need this, or just want it? By doing this, they cut 35% of unnecessary expenses last year alone. Mastering your spending limits can save you tens of thousands more than others without even realizing it. Second, never overspend. They refuse to use credit cards, Huawei, or online loans. Spending in advance is simply borrowing from your future self, and debt always comes back to collect. Third, save before you spend. Every month, once their salaries come in, they immediately set aside a portion into savings, and only spend what's left. Whatever remains at month's end goes straight into a savings account. Saving together as a couple not only grows their money, but makes the process more motivating and joyful. The husband admitted, I used to smoke a pack every three days, around 20 yuan a pack. We agreed I would cut down, which is good for my health, and put the saved money into our piggy bank. I also add income from side hustles. Meanwhile, she gave up milk tea and put her savings in too. A young couple, both born in 1998, managed to save for a house while keeping their monthly living expenses under just 800 yuan. We live in Zhejiang, earn 6,000 yuan a month, and here's how we make it work. First, she breaks each month into four weeks, keeping weekly food and groceries under 175 yuan, just 25 yuan a day. That's 700 yuan for four weeks, leaving 100 yuan for other needs. Second, since they live in a small county town, they mostly shop at local street vendors, far cheaper than supermarkets. For instance, she bought a big bunch of amaranth for just 3 yuan, enough to cook a large stir-fry. Third, her husband sometimes visits wholesale markets to buy staples like rice and oil. A 50 yuan bag of rice lasts them a month and a half. Most of the meat in their fridge comes from their hometown, costing them nothing. Their daily seasonings, oil, salt, vinegar, add up to less than 1 yuan per meal, saving them over 1,000 yuan a month compared to ordering takeout. Fourth, they almost never eat out. A restaurant bowl of noodles costs 15 yuan, but a bag of instant noodles at 8 yuan covers breakfast for a week. Fifth, the husband cooks dinner every night. A meal for two usually costs less than 10 yuan. For them, saving young means freedom when life gets tough. Let's fight for our future together, they said. One blogger added, don't think saving sounds cheap or boring. Take an example. If you're broke, riding an electric scooter feels embarrassing because you imagine people are judging you. But if you have money, even riding that same scooter gives you confidence. Saving doesn't mean being stingy. It means cutting unnecessary costs, not the important ones. Youth won't last forever, nor will your ability to earn. The joy of saving, even a little, is priceless. Another couple, both 40, felt immense financial pressure after buying their home. For two and a half years, we've saved every penny possible. We don't buy anything unless it's necessary. From meals to daily goods, we calculate everything, cook all three meals ourselves, and almost never touch drinks or milk tea. The blogger said, earning money is a skill, but saving money is true wisdom. Watching her bank balance grow brings more joy than any online shopping spree. Even college students living on 1,500 yuan a month can save. Just avoid these traps. Don't subscribe to multiple apps. Two memberships already cost 40 yuan. Don't order takeout. 20 yuan a meal adds up fast, while cafeterias are cheaper and healthier. Don't hoard skincare during big sales. Promotions only push you to overspend. Don't collect endless lipsticks or cheap clothes that wear out after two washes. Buy a few good quality basics instead. And avoid frequent manicures. 50 yuan for a plain color or 200 with nail tips can drain your savings. The blogger shared her own life in Foshan. We earn about 12,000 yuan, but we live frugally, so our savings grow little by little, hoping to buy a house soon. Look at these bean sprouts. Only 1 yuan for such a big bundle. Stir-fry with tofu, onions, garlic, and chili, and it's both cheap and delicious. No matter how much we earn, we won't spend recklessly, because no one knows what comes first, tomorrow or an accident. For us, savings are the only real security. She stressed that this isn't about being stingy. It's about preparing for the future. In today's society, life is cruel and unpredictable. Sometimes, a wealthy villain gets saved in a hospital, while a poor good person may not. That's why everyone must understand the importance of saving and keep pushing forward. I'm saving 5,000 yuan for myself. Without this safe, I couldn't save anything. Even on a 3,000 yuan salary, it's possible to save. I withdraw cash and lock it away. If I leave it in my card, I'll just spend it. This pile has almost 20,000 yuan already, and my goal is 40,000 by year's end. Do you want to try saving in a safe, too? Another example comes from a 26-year-old named Xiaojiajie. On social media, she showed how she keeps monthly expenses under 300 yuan. In her viral video, she demonstrated spending less than 10 yuan a day on food, sparking heated discussion. Now, countless netizens are looking for saving buddies, a new trend where people form online communities to track each other's progress and share money-saving hacks.