Huawei's brand new flagship store looks awfully familiar...

Huawei Shanghai
Huawei Shanghai (Image credit: Nikkei Asian Review)

What you need to know

  • Huawei has opened a brand new flagship store in Shanghai.
  • It's right across the street from the Apple Store.
  • Something about the store seems familiar.

Huawei has opened its largest global flagship store in Shanghai, and plenty of people have been quick to point out how similar it is to Apple's own stores.

As reported by Nikkei Asian Review:

Huawei Technologies has opened its largest flagship store along one of China's most exclusive shopping streets, defying a tightening U.S. crackdown in a move to grab a larger domestic market share at the expense of rivals such as Apple.Queues formed early on Wednesday at the three-floor store in a stylish art deco building in Shanghai, which is a statement of intent from the world's second-biggest smartphone maker. It is not just a challenge to Apple -- which has its own flagship store across the street -- but also to South Korea's Samsung, which has unsuccessfully tried to invade Huawei's home turf.

As you can see from the above photo, Huawei's stores draw heavily on their design influence. Probably a little too much. The story echoes a similar incident in February, when Huawei opened a store next door to Apple containing in-store design features which Apple literally has patented. The latest store seems no different. As Michael Steeber notes, one feature, in particular, seems to have been plucked right out of another unique Apple store in Paris:

See more

Similarities in table layout, device position, and the overall look and feel of the store are also evident.

See more

As with the Barcelona store, the close proximity of Huawei's new store to Apple's existing premises and the striking similarities in the design are sure to raise some eyebrows.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9