JD.com holds a drone air-show to celebrate selling its stock of the Huawei Mate 40 series in just 11 seconds

The Huawei Mate 40 series of flagship smartphones was released to the Chinese market at the end of October 2020, starting at 4999 yuan (~US$747) for a base model and topping out at 11999 yuan (~$1793, whereas it will be closer to $2700 in international markets) for a Porsche Design-themed RS variant. The online retailer JD.com (or Jingdong) has reportedly claimed to have sold a total of 100 million units of this entire line in just 8 seconds.

Apparently, the company sold out of its entire stock in another 3 seconds. This alleged success (which is particularly impressive given that it took Realme just over 2 years to sell 50 million of all its phones) was attributed to attractive added-value JD perks such as options for one-hour delivery and a guaranteed no-questions-asked battery replacement for 1 year post-purchase.

The number of buyers who took up the first of these while ordering a new Huawei flagship device reportedly grew 6 times compared to those who ordered a Mate 30-series device on its own first day of sale. JD celebrated this success by conducting an aerial light-show consisting of hundreds of drones.

The synchronized UAVs depicted appropriate images and messages such as the new phones' "Star Ring Lens" rear camera module, "JD x Huawei" and "Kirin 9000". It remains to be seen if the upcoming Honor V40 series will get similar treatment on its own December 2020 release.