According to recall announcements from ROMOSS and Anker, the recalls stem from battery cell raw material changes that create combustion risks under extreme conditions.

 

This safety storm, triggered by defective battery cells, continues to intensify with multiple prominent companies caught in the maelstrom.

 

Corporate Responses Diverge

 

ROMOSS, positioned at the storm's epicenter, issued an urgent statement on the night of July 3rd declaring "we have not collapsed, thank you for your concern" and promising to resolve issues for users and partners. However, the complete delisting of power bank products from official flagship stores, obstructed refunds, executive changes, and employee anxiety all signal this established enterprise faces severe trials.

 

Anker Innovation, which also announced power bank recalls, reported that over 200,000 users had submitted recall applications by early July, representing more than 30% of total recall volume, with peak daily submissions reaching 40,000-50,000. Compared to ROMOSS, Anker Innovation maintains relatively stable positioning, having previously stated that recall losses would have limited profit impact, with power bank categories representing roughly 10% of overall revenue.

 

Xiong Kang, Anker Innovation's Vice President overseeing charging and energy storage business, recently provided additional context during media interviews. He mentioned that internal teams began discovering thermal runaway incidents in some products from late last year, prompting attempts to confirm with suppliers. At that time, suppliers provided no acknowledgment of material changes, forcing the entire identification process to rely on reverse investigation, consuming considerable time.

 

Xiong noted that as brand owners, most power bank companies, including Anker historically, lack capabilities to disassemble battery cells for material analysis. Following this incident, Anker is strengthening its battery cell laboratory and enhancing monitoring capabilities.

 

Notably, during this interview Xiong revealed that the problematic battery cell production volume was estimated at 20-30 million units, with internal testing discovering risks in both version 1.0 and 2.0. Current global market power bank recalls total approximately 2 million units, with ROMOSS announcing recalls of over 490,000 portable power devices and Anker Innovation recalling over 710,000 units domestically, totaling over one million recalled units globally.

 

Some manufacturers publicly stated they used Amprius 2.0 version battery cells and therefore would not conduct recalls. Based on the tens of millions of problematic battery cells, the proportion with issues exceeds currently recalled market figures.

 

However, not all battery cells entering the market are problematic—rather, there's a probability of risk occurrence. Both Anker Innovation and ROMOSS recall announcements mention that very few products may trigger overheating or even combustion under extreme conditions or prolonged cyclical use.

 

Supplier at the Center

 

At the storm's center stands battery cell supplier Amprius.

 

Amprius (Wuxi) was originally established as a Sino-foreign joint venture, with American Amprius subsidiaries holding nearly 55% ownership and Wuxi Industrial Development Group holding approximately 45%. The mainland Chinese company has since spun off independently from American headquarters, with Amprius (Wuxi)'s English name changed from Amprius to Apex. According to enterprise database information, Amprius (Hong Kong), currently the major shareholder of Amprius (Wuxi), has dissolved.

 

This power bank safety risk exposure will likely impact industry competitive dynamics. After experiencing internal competition and price wars, this crisis may force positive industry development, with market structure facing reshuffling.

 

Consumer Rights Protection Challenges

 

To minimize user losses and safeguard experience, Anker Innovation published detailed recall and compensation schemes in its announcement. Recall application channels include WeChat "Anker After-Sales" service account, contacting official online platform customer service, calling service hotlines, or submitting applications through Anker Innovation's official website. Additionally, to prevent low-probability incidents during transportation, the company provides specialized fireproof protection bags for returned products, ensuring transport safety.

 

Anker Innovation clearly outlined three compensation options for users: full refunds, upgrade exchanges, or Anker store credits (original order amount plus 50 yuan).

 

After sincere apologies and detailed solution proposals, Anker Innovation committed to establishing long-term protection mechanisms, not only assembling battery cell safety expert teams but also building industry-leading battery cell testing laboratories, and monitoring battery cell production processes through big data platforms, ensuring product safety across design, testing, and production phases while fully protecting consumer rights.

 

Industry professionals note that as an internationally recognized product safety assurance system, recall systems increasingly receive attention from market regulatory authorities and enterprises. Beyond comprehensive quality management systems, timely identification of potential product safety risks and proactive recall of potentially problematic products demonstrates corporate fulfillment of product quality responsibilities and consumer rights protection.

 

ROMOSS Crisis Deepens

 

ROMOSS must recall 491,700 portable power devices produced between June 2023 and July 2024, involving three main models including PAC20-272.

 

However, after recall plan initiation, consumers discovered service hotlines were disconnected due to unpaid bills, e-commerce stores implemented bans and blocking against rights-protection users, and even devices meeting recall conditions proved difficult to return or exchange.

 

More concerning, on July 1st Xi'an Medical College library experienced a non-recalled model power bank self-ignition incident, with the involved student's backpack severely burned, prompting urgent safety warnings from school authorities.

 

As public opinion continued fermenting, multiple employees revealed to media that the company implemented comprehensive work stoppages from July 1st, with wages paid only through June.

 

Although ROMOSS official account urgently refuted "bankruptcy" rumors early morning July 4th, netizens discovered statement comment sections filled with "customer service read but no response" complaints, with official accounts explaining consultation volume surges caused response delays.

 

This crisis exposes systematic deficiencies in ROMOSS supply chain management. Recall announcements indicate the root cause lies in "battery cell raw material incoming material reasons"—this marks the company's second large-scale recall, having previously recalled 3,792 OM10 model units in 2019 for similar issues.

 

Notably, current incident models PAC20-272 production cycles spanned 14 months, yet the enterprise only initiated recalls in June 2025, during which period at least 21 Beijing universities had preemptively banned this brand's power banks.

 

Consumer rights protection records show users witnessed roommates' ROMOSS power banks exploding in elevators causing fires, yet multiple recall hotline contacts received no response.

 

More ironically, when Xi'an self-ignition incident parties confirmed involved devices weren't on recall lists, ROMOSS customer service phones remained continuously busy. This crisis response lag forms stark contrast with the company's July 2nd emergency legal representative change—founder Lei Shexing resigned from all positions, succeeded by Lei Xingrong, just three months after previous executive changes.

 

Industry observers note ROMOSS difficulties reflect long-standing standard implementation gaps in the portable power industry. Although national standard GB/T35590-2017 clearly stipulates portable power performance requirements, actual implementation proves considerably challenging.

 

The 490,000 problematic products involved, calculated at average 100 yuan pricing, would create recall costs exceeding 49 million yuan, constituting enormous pressure for ROMOSS with annual revenue around 1.5 billion yuan. Currently the company claims "all energy focused on supply chain self-inspection," but work stoppage rumors combined with business registration changes create overlapping effects, triggering panic-driven order cancellations from supply chain partners.

 

On e-commerce platforms, multiple ROMOSS products show "out of stock," with Tmall flagship store 30-day refund rates surging 187%. Intriguingly, official accounts emphasize recall plans remain "long-term effective" without specifying concrete implementation schemes or timelines—such vague commitments hardly eliminate public concerns.

 

As peak summer travel season approaches, power bank safety issues will continue amplifying. This trust crisis triggered by product quality may provide timely opportunity for the entire portable power industry to reexamine supply chain risks.

 

Conclusion

 

Compensation gaps essentially reflect imbalances between producer responsibility and consumer rights. When Amprius evades compensation through Hong Kong company dissolution (registered capital merely 5 million yuan versus potential claims reaching hundreds of millions), resolution requires regulatory rigidity (covering derivative losses), streamlined claims processes (burden of proof reversal plus class action lawsuits), and preemptive mechanisms (mandatory insurance).