A mobile phone with a 10,000mAh battery is coming. The "grave digger" of shared power banks has arrived.

After Zhongxuegao, a well - known "price assassin" in the "assassin world", has reached the brink of bankruptcy, another well - known "assassin", the shared power bank, also seems to be about to exit the stage.

Recently, there have been reports that a number of mobile phone manufacturers are continuously increasing their efforts in the competition of battery capacity. It is estimated that at least two new mobile phones equipped with ultra - large - capacity batteries of about 10,000 mAh will be released next year, and they will also perform well in terms of performance and body thickness control.

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Previously, in May this year, Realme publicly demonstrated a prototype mobile phone equipped with a 10,000 mAh battery. Thanks to the commercialization of silicon - carbon anode (SiC) battery technology, the battery capacity of current smartphones has reached about 7,000 mAh, and it is only a matter of time before it breaks through 10,000 mAh. When the battery capacity of mobile phones gradually reaches the level of power banks, the "battery anxiety" will naturally be cured.

It should be noted that the root cause of the soaring popularity of shared power banks in 2019, which were once considered a false demand, was the users' battery anxiety. In that year, 5G mobile phones gradually became popular. However, limited by technical factors such as the weak penetration of high - frequency 5G signals, the increased complexity of antennas, and frequent network switching, the power consumption of 5G mobile phones increased significantly compared with previous 4G mobile phones. Even though mobile phone manufacturers increased the battery capacity to about 4,000 mAh at that time, they still could not relieve users' battery anxiety.

Therefore, shared power banks, which generally cost only 1 yuan per hour at that time, became the weapon for many consumers to get rid of battery anxiety. Compared with carrying a power bank outside, such a price obviously made using shared power banks more cost - effective. However, as time passed, after leading shared power bank manufacturers such as Monster and Jiedian completed the work of cultivating users' habits by offering benefits to consumers, the price of shared power banks began to rise all the way, and there were even frequent problems of easy borrowing but difficult returning.

Consumer associations across the country have "named" shared power banks more than once for causing consumer dissatisfaction due to "difficulty in returning" and "abnormal charging", but shared power bank manufacturers remain unmoved. The reason for their audacity is that the easy - to - borrow but difficult - to - return situation and the "price assassin" phenomenon of shared power banks are actually the result of the joint promotion of the industry.

As a part of the sharing economy, the business model of shared power banks is completely different from that of shared travel. It makes money by taking advantage of consumers' negative emotions. If we understand shared power banks as a fine imposed on consumers who need power to keep their mobile phones working and maintain their connection to the mobile Internet, the logic behind their daring to raise prices unscrupulously becomes clear. Because shared power banks are not here to serve consumers, but to seize the consumers' psychology of not wanting to "lose network connection".

This is also the reason why the services provided by shared power bank enterprises not only have a high unit price but also a slow charging speed. Because they earn money from emergency needs, and the slower the charging speed, the longer the users' usage time will naturally be, and the more money they will earn under the time - based charging system. Although in reality, shared power banks have made it onto the hot search as "charging assassins" more than once or twice, this also proves that despite all the complaints, people still keep using them.

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In response to this phenomenon, mobile phone manufacturers have also made efforts. However, their solution at that time was "fast charging", that is, to achieve "half - charged in 10 minutes" through ultra - high power of up to hundreds of watts. Unfortunately, this solution is somewhat ineffective in the face of the "price assassins" of shared power banks.

This is because there is an unavoidable defect in using fast charging to solve battery anxiety, which is that users need to use a special charging head. The reason why shared power banks have a market is that users are unwilling to carry power banks by themselves. In this case, there is no reason for users to carry a charging head to restaurants, bars, Internet cafes, and movie theaters. In fact, it's not that users like to use increasingly expensive shared power banks, but that they don't want to carry an extra power bank or charging head when going out.

If mobile phones can achieve one - day or even two - day battery life, the foundation for the existence of shared power banks will immediately disappear. This is why silicon - carbon anode batteries may become the gravedigger of the shared power bank industry. When mobile phones themselves become walking power banks, there will naturally be no place for shared power banks. However, it is not realistic for shared power banks to disappear immediately next year. After all, the popularization of ultra - large - capacity silicon - carbon anode batteries cannot be achieved overnight.

From silicon - oxygen anode to silicon - carbon anode, both are actually graphite anodes doped with silicon. However, the former is doped with silicon on a micrometer scale, while the latter is on a nanometer scale. If we compare silicon powder to food, the former is like eating coarse grains such as corn, and the latter is like eating fine grains such as rice. The process routes are completely different. Using a silicon - carbon anode means that the battery needs to be adjusted from the formula to the design and then to the process, and the subsequent safety, performance, and lifespan also need to be retested.

Moreover, in order to maintain the body size while increasing the battery capacity and avoid repeating the defect of the first - generation 5G mobile phones, which were generally "big, heavy, and thick", mobile phone manufacturers have to continue to improve the energy density of silicon - carbon anode batteries and strive to break through the 800 W/Kg mark. However, increasing the energy density is not an overnight thing. At present, the expansion problem of silicon materials is still a relatively critical and thorny limiting factor.

Of course, technical limitations only delay the "deadline" of shared power banks. The decline of this industry is almost inevitable.

This article is from the WeChat public account "3eLife" (ID: IT - 3eLife), author: San Yi Jun. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.