Within the span of two weeks, China’s power bank industry has been plunged into turmoil, with nearly every major manufacturer swept up in the fallout.
At the center of it all is Romoss, once dubbed the nation’s power bank. The company now teeters on the brink of collapse.
At around 1 a.m. on July 6, Romoss issued an official notice announcing a full suspension of operations. The company cited changing market conditions and internal business needs, stating that, following a shareholder meeting, it had opted to halt work and production for six months beginning July 7.
Cracks had begun to show well before the shutdown. Consumers had taken to social media to report issues securing refunds for recalled products from Romoss’ official Taobao store. Some said their refund requests had been delayed for weeks, with payments pending due to what the company described as insufficient funds in the store account.
All signs point to a full-blown crisis. Once a dominant force in China’s power bank market, Romoss had held the top position in Tmall’s mobile power category for 11 straight Singles’ Day events. But its recent large-scale recall has sent the company into operational freefall.
And Romoss is not alone in its struggles. Anker Innovations, another major manufacturer, recalled 713,000 units, well above Romoss’s 490,000, according to 36Kr. “Lately, both I and our entire team have been under enormous pressure,” said a vice president at Anker in an interview.
These developments have exposed deeper structural issues. More than a decade in the making, the industry now finds itself in a pressure cooker. Power banks, a category expected to balance cost, performance, and portability, offer little room for differentiation. Manufacturers have long operated on the edge, pushing materials to their limits in pursuit of marginal gains in design or efficiency.
As the storm unfolds, no single company carries all the blame. The situation reflects the culmination of an industry pushed too far by intense internal competition.
It also signals a broader reckoning in the 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) sector. In a time of rampant overcapacity, companies must ask: how can they stay afloat without getting pulled under?
The domino effect of flawed battery cells
A power bank typically contains three core components: the battery cell, the circuit board (which includes the boost converter and charging management system), and the casing. Of these, the battery cell is both the most critical and most expensive, often accounting for more than half of the unit’s cost.
The ongoing wave of recalls appears to trace back to defective battery cells.
Anker’s recall notice stated that a battery supplier had made unauthorized changes to raw materials. These modifications, the company explained, could cause rare but serious internal failures over time—leading to overheating or even combustion.
Multiple media reports identified the supplier as Amprius.
But the situation may not be as straightforward as laying blame on a single provider.
Amprius is regarded as one of the top battery suppliers in the market and the largest producer of pouch battery cells in China. As of 2023, it had manufactured more than 100 million lithium batteries for clients including Romoss, Xiaomi, Anker, Tineco, and Baseus.
Anker’s internal investigation pointed to several unapproved changes in cathode materials during production. These modifications were not immediately apparent and took months to identify. Industry insiders told 36Kr that crystallization of ternary materials under fast-charging conditions may be to blame.
As of now, Amprius has yet to issue a public statement.
Manufacturing lithium battery cells is inherently complex. Lithium’s reactivity makes it prone to dendrite formation, which can lower energy density. The use of flammable organic electrolytes adds further risk, increasing the chance of thermal runaway under stress.
Even for a company of Amprius’s caliber, pinpointing the precise cause of crystallization is difficult. For brands downstream, routine safety tests often fail to detect material-level defects, making root cause analysis a serious challenge.
One investor offered a blunt assessment:
“There are dozens of potential failure points in lithium cell production. Managing safety at scale requires extreme discipline. That comes at a cost, and that cost gets passed down.”
While Amprius is capable of producing high-density, high-quality batteries, it is not unique in this ability. Other top suppliers can offer comparable products, but their primary customers are automakers and smartphone brands, which have both higher safety standards and much larger procurement volumes. Compared to them, power bank makers are minor players.
Following its fallout with Amprius, Anker announced a partnership with Amperex Technology Limited (ATL), the world’s leading battery cell manufacturer. ATL supplies over 40% of global smartphone batteries and counts Apple, Oppo, and Huawei among its major clients.
However, securing ATL as a supplier comes with steep demands. A source told 36Kr that ATL requires minimum orders of 500,000 units, six-month lead times, and full prepayment. These are hurdles that many smaller power bank firms cannot clear.
That doesn’t make Amprius a bad actor. Its batteries already carry a premium price tag. “This is still one of the pricier battery suppliers,” the same source said.
Ultimately, the issue serves as a warning about what can happen when performance demands outpace production safeguards, even among market leaders.
RELATED ARTICLE
Overcompetition, underprotection
The 3C accessories business, power banks included, was never designed for glamour. It is labor-intensive and operates on thin margins.
Unlike standalone consumer electronics such as smartphones or smartwatches, accessories depend on demand for other devices. As smartphone replacement cycles have lengthened from 16–18 months to well over two years, accessory sales have declined accordingly.
Mordor Intelligence estimates the global power bank market will reach USD 20.1 billion in 2025 and could grow to USD 29.6 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 8%. But that rate is slowing, and the competition is shifting from battery capacity to speed, aesthetics, and price.
Yet in a product category with minimal room for true innovation, such advantages don’t last long.
Consider Anker’s 2018 gallium nitride (GaN) charger, which debuted to positive reviews. Within a month, rival brand Aukey released a nearly identical product.
Price competition has since intensified too. Romoss’s 20,000-milliampere-hour, 22.5-watt fast-charging model, which retailed for RMB 129–149 (USD 18.1–20.9) in 2021, dropped to just RMB 69 (USD 9.7) by the end of 2024.
In this race, manufacturers are moving faster than battery technology can safely support. The risk of unstable lithium cells lies just beneath the surface.
“The industry is just too competitive right now. Everyone wants higher power, faster charging, and sleeker designs. But when every parameter is pushed to the limit, failure becomes inevitable,” one insider told 36Kr.
This situation isn’t limited to power banks. According to BusinessPoint, an industrial research firm, China was home to 480,000 mobile accessory companies as of 2024, many offering only minor variations of existing products.
The path forward is well known but difficult: increase R&D investment and target higher-value, technically complex markets. In 2024, Anker and Ugreen spent 8.5% and 4.9% of their revenue on R&D, respectively, and both are increasing that share. These efforts have allowed them to carve out pricing power even in a crowded field. Anker, for instance, is expanding into 3D printing and robotic lawn mowers.
China remains the global hub for 3C electronics manufacturing. But with performance capabilities outstripping actual demand, the industry must find smarter ways to absorb its own output. Without that shift, the cycle of price wars and cascading failures is bound to repeat.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Leslie Zhang for 36Kr.