Popeyes SG 'deep fries' Apple while Xiaomi thinks out of the box

Apple has once again caused an uproar online with its new iPhone 12, with netizens flooding the Internet with memes about how its latest model is a reincarnate of the iPhone 5 which costs more than SG$1,000. Forget the fact that Apple's new iPhone Pro models has a new camera, taptic engine, and MagSafe which offers high-powered wireless charging. One thing that caught the attention of many was Apple's latest decision to remove the power adapter and earpods from the iPhone packaging.

According to Apple, this was to further reduce carbon emissions and avoid the mining and use of precious materials. It explained that doing so will enable smaller and lighter packaging, and allows for 70% more boxes to be shipped on a pallet. The online chatter surrounding this issue presented brands an opportunity to take a cheeky jab at Apple as usual.

Popeyes Singapore did a comparison between its fried chicken and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, saying: "With the same amount of money, you can buy one iPhone 12 Pro Max or 514 pieces of fried chicken." It also added in the comments: "Oh, and the earpods and charging cable cost an additional 16 chickens." accompanied by a GIF with the phrase "Just saying".

The post garnered 338 reactions, 121 comments and 639 shares at the time of writing, with several netizens joining in on the fun and selecting fried chicken over the phone. One netizen asked for the number of biscuits available for the price of one iPhone 12, and Popeyes was quick to respond with 1,439 biscuits. Meanwhile, one netizen chose the chicken over the apple because he is allergic to vegan food.

Similarly, Xiaomi also teased Apple in a Twitter post which said: "Don't worry, we didn't leave anything out of the box with the Mi10TPro." The post had 3.7k retweets, 2.6k quote tweets and 17.1k likes at the time of writing. Netizens, however, were quick to remind Xiaomi that Android players including Samsung were quick to mock Apple for removing the earphone jack previously, only to follow suit shortly after. Some added that they would not be surprised if Xiaomi or other Android brands removed the charger and earphones from their phone bundles too.

According to statistics from Meltwater, social media chatter surrounding the iPhone 12 in Southeast Asia peaked at 122k on 14 October. Majority of the sentiment was neutral (76%), while 13% were negative. Most of the chatter came from Thailand with close to 50k mentions, followed by Malaysia, with over 35k mentions. Some of the trending themes included a14 bionic chip, new iphone, iphone, remix and capitalism.

Last year, brands also had a field day mocking Apple when it first launched the triple-lens "slofi" camera. Brands such as Durex Singapore, Domino's Pizza Malaysia Krispy Kreme India and Play Doh did not hold back with its social media posts, much to the delight of netizens.

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