Power banks are one of the most popular mobile accessories today. It is also one of Anker’s biggest businesses. However, their CEO believes that power banks could be obsolete within a few years.
In an interview, Anker founder and CEO Meng Yang said that power banks may not grow into a product category that could make billions of Chinese Yuan, and even suggests that it could “die in a few years.”
“Consumer electronics are actually products that come and go quickly,’ said Yang, comparing power banks to past consumer products like CD players, cassette players, and MP3 players. These products eventually became obsolete after newer technologies replaced them.
Anker made a big business of power banks. In fact, in 2024, it sold over 100 different models, which Yang admitted created quality control problems.
This prediction is not far off, especially in this era of silicon-carbon batteries, and we’re seeing phones like the realme P4 series and HONOR Win Turbo boasting 10,000mAh capacities.
That could be the reason why Anker is aggressively branching out to other categories. Its Soundcore brand recently launched the Liberty 5 Pro series of ANC earphones. They also showcased charging docks and other accessories at CES, is now offering power stations, and other PC accessories.