From Huaqiangbei Counter to Global Star: The Rise of a Chinese Brand
In 2009, a 26-year-old entrepreneur named Zhang Qingsen (张清森) stood at a crossroads in Shenzhen’s famed Huaqiangbei electronics market. He made a pivotal decision: quitting his job at a foreign trade company to start a business manufacturing data cables. His insight was razor-sharp—a genuine OEM phone cable sold for over a hundred yuan, while its production cost was less than ten, revealing a profit margin exceeding 1000%. This moment marked the humble beginnings of what would become UGREEN Technology.
Zhang started with basic OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) services for foreign clients. However, he quickly recognized the limitations of the pure contract manufacturing model. Low technological barriers inevitably led to price wars, relentlessly squeezing profits. In 2011, he executed a critical strategic pivot: launching the proprietary brand “UGREEN” (绿联), embarking on a path of brand-building that defined the next decade of Chinese manufacturing ambition.
The brand’s marketing crescendo came in May 2025, when it signed top Chinese actor and singer Yi Yangqianxi (易烊千玺) as its global brand ambassador. The announcement post on Weibo was flooded with fans showcasing their purchases, signaling a peak in brand visibility and aspirational appeal. Yet, barely a month later, the gleaming premium filter began to show its first, significant cracks.
A safety storm triggered by recalls from competitor ROMOSS swept the power bank industry, prompting stringent new regulations from the Civil Aviation Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Into this fray stepped UGREEN, now a focal point for consumer complaints over product quality, 3C certification disputes, and aftersales service failures. The company once lauded for its NAS device running over 4300 hours in the extreme 5000-meter altitude setting for the movie “Distant Purogangri” was now facing a barrage of reports from home users about frequent failures, including hard drives failing within weeks. The contrast could not have been starker, nor more damaging to its carefully cultivated image.
The Cracks Beneath the Surface
This crisis represents more than isolated product defects. It strikes at the heart of UGREEN’s transition from a value-for-money accessory maker to a premium, trusted brand in the eyes of consumers and, by extension, investors. For a company that rode the wave of “Made in China” upgrading, maintaining that premium filter is paramount. The current situation poses critical questions about quality control, supply chain management, and long-term brand equity in the fast-evolving and competitive 3C accessories sector.
MIIT’s “Strictest Ever” Power Bank Regulations Reshape the Landscape
In November 2025, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) dropped a regulatory bombshell with the release of its draft “Technical Specifications for the Safety of Mobile Power Sources.” The new rules introduced dozens of stringent requirements covering whole-unit labeling, intelligent circuit board design, and cell safety testing, measures so rigorous the industry promptly dubbed them the “strictest ever” standard.
The regulation is expected to cleanse the market of substandard producers, with estimates suggesting up to 70% of existing capacity could be forced out. This has triggered a strategic divergence among leading players, each scrambling to secure their position in the new, compliance-driven era.
- Anker Innovations (安克创新), reeling from its own recall impact, filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 2, 2025, seeking capital to fund its recovery and repositioning.
- Xiaomi leveraged technological differentiation, launching an ultra-thin magnetic power bank using “Jinsha River” battery cells. The product saw such heated demand it quickly sold out, demonstrating how innovation can capture market share even during a downturn.
- The most significant new variable came from power battery giant CATL (宁德时代). Its debut of a “vehicle-grade” ultra-thin magnetic power bank at an Avatr new product launch, built to the exacting standards of automotive power batteries, substantially raised the technological and safety benchmarks for the entire industry.
UGREEN’s Regulatory and Quality Quandary
Amid this industry-wide shake-up, UGREEN found itself uncomfortably in the spotlight. While competitors like ROMOSS and Anker announced large-scale recalls linked to problematic cells from Amprius, UGREEN’s products were notably absent from these recall lists. However, this provided little comfort as deeper scrutiny revealed a history of compliance issues.
Public records show UGREEN’s power banks have repeatedly failed market sampling inspections. For instance, in October 2020, its PB132 model mobile power source was penalized by market regulators for failing to meet national mandatory standards. A report by Leju Finance noted that between 2019 and the first half of 2022, UGREEN had five instances of products failing to meet standards, sampling inspections, or national benchmarks.
More alarmingly, in March and June of 2025, the 3C certification for two of UGREEN’s mobile power bank models was suspended. This action by regulators is a serious red flag, directly exposing significant lapses in the company’s internal quality control and production consistency—a fundamental failure for any consumer electronics brand claiming a premium position.
A Torrent of Complaints: The “Premium Filter” Shatters for Consumers
The regulatory challenges are compounded by a growing wave of direct consumer dissatisfaction. On the prominent Black Cat Complaint platform, over 1,200 complaints related to UGREEN had been lodged by December 22, 2025. The grievances predominantly concern the quality and aftersales service of chargers, power banks, and other core products.
The narratives from users paint a picture of a brand struggling to meet the reliability expectations its marketing promises. One user on social media recounted purchasing a UGREEN docking station in October 2023, only for it to fail completely two years later. Upon contacting customer service, they were informed the one-year warranty had expired, with the implied message that the failure was the user’s problem. This experience, from a customer who had previously bought UGREEN chargers, screen protectors, and cables with good impressions, led to a final, damning verdict: “The problem was never resolved. I will never buy UGREEN products again.”
NAS Products: A High-Stakes Failure
Perhaps most damaging are the issues surrounding UGREEN’s NAS (Network Attached Storage) products, which are central to its push into higher-margin, premium smart home and data storage solutions. These devices, marketed for their reliability and performance, have become a significant source of brand erosion.
- One consumer reported that a DH2600 unit purchased less than a year prior experienced a hard drive failure. UGREEN’s检测检测 claimed the machine was fine, offering only a replacement unit but refusing to cover the cost of the damaged hard drive. After returning that device at an 85% refund and upgrading to a DXP2800 model, the user experienced another hard drive failure within a year. The complaint process was described as being “strung along” for nearly two months without feedback, ending again with a refusal to refund or take responsibility for the drive.
- Another user reported a catastrophic failure just two weeks after setup: “Bought the UGREEN private cloud DH4300Plus 8G version with 16T four-bay during Double 11, it came with two 8T Seagate IronWolf drives. After half a month of use, one of the hard drives was broken.” While the e-commerce platform’s客服 agreed to a special return, the user’s trust was shattered: “I don’t dare to try an exchange with UGREEN’s quality.”
- Beyond hardware, software and system stability are also under fire. Users report unstable NAS systems where the device disconnects but indicator lights remain on, issues with compressed file extraction resulting in garbled code, an inability to delete files, restrictive filename length limits, and a heavy reliance on remote troubleshooting that increases user hassle.
Power Banks: The Core Category Under Fire
Complaints in the power bank category, the very segment facing regulatory upheaval, further erode confidence. Users report “virtual battery” display issues, where charge levels plummet from 80% to 2% instantly, leaving them stranded. Others cite units that simply fail to charge devices at all. The aftersales experience adds insult to injury, with customers frequently required to pay for shipping to return faulty units for repair, a policy at odds with a premium brand promise.
Deconstructing the Crisis: Beyond Isolated Faults
The concentration of complaints across multiple product lines—docking stations, NAS devices, and power banks—suggests systemic issues rather than bad luck. For investors and market observers, it’s crucial to look beyond the individual failures to understand the underlying pressures that may have caused UGREEN’s premium filter to crack.
The Strain of Rapid Scaling and Brand Elevation
UGREEN’s journey mirrors the classic, breakneck growth story of many Chinese manufacturing champions: rapid scaling from OEM to a global brand. This transition places immense strain on several fronts:
- Supply Chain & Quality Control: Managing a complex, global supply chain for numerous SKUs while enforcing consistent, high-quality standards is a monumental task. The reported 3C certification suspensions and historical inspection failures indicate potential weaknesses in vendor selection, incoming quality inspection (IQC), or production process control.
- R&D and Testing vs. Marketing Spend: The company’s marketing leap—signing a top-tier celebrity like Yi Yangqianxi (易烊千玺)—signals a major investment in brand building. The critical question for sustainability is whether R&D and rigorous product lifecycle testing have kept pace. The gap between robust performance in a staged, extreme environment for a film and failures in typical home use points to a possible disconnect between validation testing and real-world reliability.
- Organizational Silos: Problems with NAS software stability and poor customer service communication suggest potential disconnects between hardware engineering, software development, and customer-facing support teams. A seamless, premium user experience requires deep integration across these functions.
The “premium filter” is not just about higher price points and sleek packaging; it is a holistic promise of superior quality, reliability, and service. When products fail prematurely and customers feel abandoned by客服, that filter shatters completely, regardless of how compelling the advertising may be.
Investment Implications and the Road Ahead for UGREEN
For the sophisticated international investors, fund managers, and corporate executives focused on Chinese equities, the UGREEN saga offers critical lessons and points for due diligence. The situation transcends a single company’s bad press; it reflects broader themes in the evolution of China’s consumer electronics sector.
Key Takeaways for the Market
First, regulatory tailwinds can quickly become headwinds. The MIIT’s new power bank standards exemplify how Chinese authorities are increasingly prioritizing consumer safety and product quality, forcing entire industries to elevate their game. Companies with robust in-house engineering, strong supplier relationships, and a proactive compliance culture will be winners. Those reliant on sourcing cheaper, non-compliant components will be exposed and eliminated.
Second, brand equity in consumer tech is fragile. It is built over years through consistent performance but can be severely damaged in months by concentrated quality failures, especially in the age of social media and public complaint platforms. UGREEN’s challenge is now one of reputation repair, which is often more costly and difficult than building a reputation in the first place.
Third, the competitive landscape is intensifying with跨界players. CATL’s entry into the power bank space with vehicle-grade technology is a wake-up call. It demonstrates how adjacent industries with higher technical benchmarks can disrupt established markets, raising the bar for all incumbents. UGREEN must now compete not only with traditional rivals like Anker and Baseus but also with giants from other fields bringing superior technological pedigrees.
The Path Forward: Can UGREEN Repair Its Premium Filter?
UGREEN’s response in the coming quarters will be telling. A credible path to recovery would likely involve:
- A Transparent and Proactive Quality Overhaul: Publicly addressing the quality issues, potentially initiating a voluntary recall or replacement program for affected products, and detailing concrete steps to strengthen quality control从供应链到出厂.
- Re-investment in Core Engineering: Shifting focus and resources from pure marketing spend towards deepening R&D capabilities, particularly in power management, device reliability, and software stability.
- Transforming Customer Service: Overhauling aftersales support to be more responsive, generous, and aligned with premium brand expectations. This includes warranty policies and handling of defective components like hard drives in NAS systems.
- Strategic Focus: Possibly rationalizing its sprawling product portfolio to concentrate on categories where it can truly deliver best-in-class quality and defend its position against deep-pocketed and tech-savvy competitors.
The story that began at a Huaqiangbei counter stands at another crossroads. The premium filter that UGREEN worked so hard to create has undeniably cracked. The question now is whether this represents a fatal fracture or a painful but corrective wake-up call. In a market where regulators are raising the floor and competitors are raising the ceiling, relying on past渠道or性价比advantages is no longer a viable strategy. For UGREEN, and for investors watching closely, the true test of its brand resilience and operational maturity has just begun. The company’s ability to systematically address these foundational quality issues will determine if it remains a darling of China’s consumer electronics upgrade or becomes a cautionary tale of growth outstripping capability.