The power bank industry is currently facing a safety storm: Romoss and Anker Innovations have respectively recalled around 490,000 units and over 1.8 million units due to defects in battery cells and raw materials. Well-known brands such as UGREEN, Baseus, and Xiaomi have also been affected, with several products having their 3C certifications suspended. In response, the Civil Aviation Administration of China introduced new regulations, effective from June 28, completely banning passengers from carrying power banks on flights that lack 3C markings, have unclear labeling, or belong to recalled batches. This has left consumers wondering: which power banks are still safe to use?
Rapid Expansion Driven by Demand
With the increasingly widespread use of digital devices and the growing presence of screens in everyday life, people are using mobile devices more frequently, which in turn is driving up demand in the mobile power supply market. Within the competitive landscape, the global power bank industry has already seen brand concentration take shape, with strong brand effects among industry leaders. Leading companies such as Anker Innovations, Xiaomi, and Romoss now occupy a significant share of the global market, with a high level of market concentration.
As the industry developed rapidly, problems gradually surfaced. The incident began with an accidental occurrence in early March: a passenger flying from Hangzhou to Hong Kong experienced a situation where a Romoss 20,000mAh power bank in their luggage suddenly began smoking and caught fire during charging, nearly resulting in a serious accident. This incident drew widespread attention to safety concerns. In mid-June, multiple universities in Beijing issued warnings to students, advising them not to use Romoss 20,000mAh power banks, stating that they “can easily explode while charging.”
The core issue pointed to battery cell supplier Amprius. Disassembly of the recalled Anker power banks revealed that their battery cells were produced by this company. Founded in 2014, this Chinese-American joint venture is also known as “the No.1 supplier of pouch batteries for power banks in China.”
As the investigation deepened, the truth gradually emerged: testing revealed that some battery cells from Amprius were manufactured by an OEM factory in Jiangxi, which had illegally substituted the materials used in the separator between the battery’s cathode and anode, causing multiple problems. In response, the State Administration for Market Regulation decisively stepped in and suspended or invalidated over 70 3C certificates related to batteries and battery cells under Amprius’s name.
Subsequently, beginning in June, the 3C certificates for power banks from brands such as Romoss, Anker, Xiaomi, and UGREEN were successively suspended. By June 21, Amprius’s three ISO management system certifications had also been suspended, and more than 20 patents related to battery technology had been rejected. A single small battery cell has sparked a massive storm across the entire industry.
“Self-Destructive Competition” Under Price War and Internal Undercutting
The internal undercutting of battery cell prices is the main cause of this incident. Battery cells can account for more than 50% of the total cost of a power bank, making them the top cost-cutting target for brands. In the context of intense price competition, some manufacturers opt to purchase cheaper battery cells and tacitly allow suppliers to substitute materials, even if they are aware of the risks associated with low-cost products. The price difference between qualified and substandard battery cells can reach up to 30%, and low-cost products can be quickly mass-sold through e-commerce channels without undergoing inspection before being listed for sale.
Multiple suppliers within the industry have revealed that competition in the power bank market has reached a white-hot price war phase. “Brands want to cut costs, but suppliers also need to maintain profit margins. It’s clearly unrealistic to surrender profits, so they resort to shady tactics—such as cutting corners, or subcontracting production to small and medium-sized factories to manufacture on their behalf.”
Data shows that over the past five years, the price of mainstream power bank products has fallen from the 100 RMB range (approx. 13.75 USD) to around 20 RMB (approx. 2.75 USD) today. One senior industry executive bluntly stated: “For a product with 15,000mAh capacity, the cost is basically around 80 RMB (approx. 11 USD). If a manufacturer claims to produce it at a cost of just 45 to 50 RMB (approx. 6.2 to 6.9 USD), then its quality is highly questionable.”
Similar to the chaos in the low-temperature market, this kind of vicious competition is triggering a “bad money drives out good” effect — with every link in the supply chain continually giving up profit margins, businesses across the entire value chain, from contract manufacturing to brand operations, have resorted to using low-price “traps” to sustain their businesses.
From an industry-wide perspective, this “self-destructive competition” is forcing industrial technology into stagnation. When companies focus all their efforts on slashing their own costs and are unwilling to invest time and capital into new technology development or product quality improvement, there will naturally be no substantial technological breakthroughs in the power bank industry. Let alone keeping pace with consumers’ increasingly fast-paced lifestyles and growing demands for high-quality, high-safety power bank products.
[Disclaimer]: The above content reflects analysis of publicly available information, expert insights, and BCC research. It does not constitute investment advice. BCC is not responsible for any losses resulting from reliance on the views expressed herein. Investors should exercise caution.