Anker's founder and CEO, Meng Yang, has made a bold prediction: power banks may soon become a thing of the past.
In a recent interview, Yang stated that the portable charger market is unlikely to grow into a multi-billion yuan industry and could even "die in a few years."
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Comparing Power Banks to Obsolete Gadgets
Yang drew parallels between power banks and older consumer electronics such as MP3 players, cassette players, and CD players.
He noted that many gadgets have a short life cycle before being replaced by newer technologies.
"Consumer electronics are actually products that come and go quickly," Yang said.
"If you have bought an MP3 player, you have most likely also bought a cassette player or a CD player.
The time span between when you first buy these products and when you stop buying them is only about 10 years."
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Anker's Evolving Business
Anker built its reputation on power banks since its founding in 2011. However, the company has significantly diversified its product lineup over the years.
In 2025, Anker reported total revenue of 30.514 billion yuan, a 23.49% increase year-over-year.
Charging and energy storage products contributed 15.402 billion yuan, roughly half of total revenue. Traditional power banks are no longer the main growth driver.
In the first quarter of 2026, Anker's revenue reached 7.608 billion yuan, up 26.93% from the same period last year.
However, net profit attributable to shareholders fell 4.87% year-over-year to 472 million yuan.
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Overexpansion in Power Bank Lineup
Yang's comments follow Anker's acknowledgment that it had expanded its power bank lineup too aggressively.
At the 2025 annual shareholders' meeting, Anker admitted to having too many charging product models on the market.
In 2024 alone, the company sold around 100 different power bank models.
Anker conceded that such a large lineup created quality control challenges.
"There should never be 100 models," the company told shareholders, adding that no company could realistically maintain the quality of 100 different power bank products.
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While the demand for portable charging remains strong today, Yang believes power banks will eventually follow the same path as other once-essential gadgets that gradually disappeared as technology evolved.
