Die Akkukapazität von chinesischen Smartphones führt weltweit an. Werden wir bald das Powerbank-Gerät hinter uns lassen?

Recently, a market research firm released a report stating that in May 2025, China led the world with an average smartphone battery capacity of 5418mAh (milliampere hours).

Besides competing in imaging and AI, larger-capacity batteries have also been a focus of competition among major mobile phone manufacturers in recent years. As the battery capacity of mobile phones gradually increases, will power banks disappear like "universal chargers" in the future?

"The 'battery capacity race' won't cool down in the short term."

Recently, global technology market research firm Counterpoint Research released a report indicating that in May 2025, the average battery capacity of smartphones in the Chinese market reached 5418mAh, a year-on-year increase of 11%. During the same period, the average battery capacity in other regions around the world only increased by 3%.

Mohammed Junaid, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, told China News Service that the increase in the average battery capacity of smartphones is mainly driven by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers' rapid adoption of silicon-carbon anode battery technology, which brings higher energy density (more milliamperes can be stored in the same volume) and applies this technology to mid - to high - end models.

Mohammed Junaid said that to increase the average battery capacity of mobile phones, manufacturers will adopt anodes with a high silicon content, thinner lamination/stacked packaging, and lightweight design for large batteries, taking into account both the thickness of the phone body and battery life. At the same time, they will cooperate with upstream suppliers to iterate on the formula and promote high - capacity batteries to foldable and straight - screen flagship models.

Since 2024, many mainstream mobile phone manufacturers have released or upgraded batteries using silicon - carbon anode technology. Currently, products from mobile phone manufacturers such as Honor, Huawei, and vivo all use silicon - carbon anode battery technology.

On August 7th, iQOO, a sub - brand of vivo, released the iQOO Z10 Turbo+. According to the iQOO official website, this product is equipped with an 8000mAh ultra - thin Blue Ocean battery. The product uses third - generation silicon anode materials. The whole phone weighs 212g and has a thickness of 8.16mm, enabling "9 minutes of charging for 3 hours of playing Honor of Kings."

An expert in the product field of Honor (hereinafter referred to as the Honor expert) said in an interview with China News Service on the 13th that theoretically, the amount of charge stored in silicon anode materials of the same volume is more than 10 times that of graphite anodes (traditional batteries). In terms of performance, the energy density of silicon - carbon anode batteries has been significantly improved. The latest generation of 6100mAh Qinghai Lake Blade Battery (the industry's first mass - produced 25% high - silicon battery) used in the foldable Honor Magic V5 has an energy density of 901Wh/L, the highest in the industry, and its battery life has been improved by 15% - 30% compared with the previous generation of products.

In addition, according to the Honor official website, in July this year, Honor released the Honor X70, which is equipped with an 8300mAh Qinghai Lake battery, the largest battery in Honor's history, which can be used for continuous screen - on for 18 hours and watching short videos for 27 hours.

It is reported that the Qinghai Lake battery is an independently developed silicon - carbon anode battery technology of Honor. It replaces the graphite anode in traditional lithium batteries with a composite material of "silicon + carbon", allowing more power to be stored in the same - volume battery, resulting in longer battery life and a thinner volume.

According to supply - chain data, in the first half of 2025, the penetration rate of silicon - carbon anode batteries in flagship phones launched in the Chinese market has exceeded 60%.

Currently, the battery capacity of flagship phones with strong battery life in the market is generally around 6000mAh. The above - mentioned Honor expert expects that when many manufacturers release new flagship phones this autumn, there may be models with a capacity exceeding 7000mAh.

In April this year, Redmi's Turbo 4 Pro was released, equipped with a 7550mAh Xiaomi Jinshajiang battery, which is also the largest Xiaomi Jinshajiang battery to date. In February 2024, Xiaomi released the Jinshajiang battery using silicon - carbon anode technology, which was first launched in the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

China News Service found through comparison that the battery capacity of some of the above - mentioned products is even higher than that of some tablets launched in the past two years. For example, the Redmi K Pad, released and launched in June 2025, has a battery capacity of 7500mAh; the HUAWEI MatePad 11.5 2024 model has a typical battery capacity of 7700mAh and a rated battery capacity of 7600mAh.

"Whoever can quickly popularize the advantages of silicon - carbon battery capacity across the entire product line and make the phone lighter and thinner without increasing weight will be more likely to form a differentiation in the Chinese market. With multiple leading brands advancing simultaneously, the capacity race will continue and won't cool down in the short term." Mohammed Junaid said.

Will power banks disappear?

In the "2024 Research Report on China's Shared Power Bank Industry" released by market research firm iResearch in July 2024, it was mentioned that the average battery capacity of mainstream mobile phone models has reached 4962mAh. Combining the simulation test results of mainstream models by Xiaobai Testing, the average remaining battery power after 3 hours of light use of a mobile phone is 61.1%, and only 13.1% remains after 5 hours of heavy use. Assuming 10 hours of use, it can be calculated that the daily required power is 7532mAh, creating a power gap of about 2571mAh compared with the mainstream capacity.

File photo, AI - generated

The aforementioned Honor expert said that the increase in the richness of mobile phone applications and the increase in users' usage time, especially the development of AI applications, have intensified users' demand for mobile phone battery life. According to his research report, current users use their mobile phones for more than 6 hours per day on average. He mentioned that currently, some AI applications' increasing requirements for computing power are increasing power consumption.

Ma Jihua, the founder of Beijing Darui Management Consulting Co., Ltd. and a senior analyst in the Internet industry, said that due to technological limitations, increasing the battery capacity will inevitably increase the weight, thickness, and size of the mobile phone, affecting its portability. Therefore, mobile phone manufacturers must find a balance in customer experience.

"Today's mobile phone chips themselves consume a lot of power. If end - side AI applications are installed, power consumption will increase exponentially. Of course, short videos, games, and live - streaming are also major power consumers." Ma Jihua said.

"To do well in small - screen phones, the core is to solve the battery problem and the thickness problem." Liu Bo, the former president of OPPO China, once said in an interview with China News Service and other media that when the battery capacity increases, the thickness of the mobile phone also increases. Long battery life and a thin and light design are contradictory.

Although the battery capacity of mobile phones is increasing day by day, many users still have to carry power banks when going out, and some users expect that the battery capacity of mobile phones in the future will be sufficient to support a whole day's consumption outside.

Will power banks disappear like "universal chargers" in the future? Mohammed Junaid gave a negative answer. He believes that the multi - device ecosystem, long - distance outdoor scenarios with high power consumption, and regional differences in charging convenience in places such as airports or stations all create a certain demand for power banks.

Ma Jihua also believes that power banks will not disappear in the short term. He pointed out that currently, if the mobile phone battery capacity exceeds 20000mAh or fast - charging can achieve "full charge in 1 minute," power banks may become as niche as "universal chargers." However, currently, fast - charging technology cannot cover many scenarios, so power banks will not disappear in the short term.

In terms of time, Mohammed Junaid said that three things need to happen simultaneously for mobile phones to be able to break free from their dependence on power banks: first, the battery capacity of mobile phones is generally 6000mAh and they are thinner; second, 10 - minute full - charge technology can achieve a balance and popularization of faster charging speed, longer battery durability, and cross - brand compatibility; third, the density of on - the - go charging infrastructure in public, transportation, work, and travel scenarios is high enough.

Mohammed Junaid said that in the future, the relationship between mobile phone manufacturers and power bank manufacturers will be more complementary. Because larger battery capacities and faster charging times will reduce the high - frequency rigid demand for portable power sources, but there will still be significant demand in multi - device travel, long - distance, outdoor, and business - travel scenarios.

Ma Jihua said that mobile phone manufacturers are constantly adapting to large - capacity batteries, which makes users rely less and less on power banks. However, mobile phone manufacturers are also cooperating with power bank manufacturers to develop new products, and the two sides will share technology and coexist in certain scenarios.

"What users should expect in the future is that their mobile phones can be charged to over 80% during the 15 - minute morning wash - up period." The aforementioned Honor expert said.

This article is from the WeChat official account "China News Service" (ID: jwview), written by Lin Wansi and Xie Jingwen, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.