Xiaomi Power Bank proves popular as phone users seek a cheap battery boost

It’s not just smartphones that Xiaomi is selling in the tens of millions – its cheap and cheerful Xiaomi Power Bank battery chargers are selling like hot cakes too. The company recently revealed that it has sold over 10 million of the 10,400 mAh version of its external battery pack in the course of a single year.

They’re part of an array of phone-related accessories that the Chinese firm sells from its store-like homepage, along with Xiaomi-branded earphones, speakers, and cases.

The Xiaomi Power Bank – which works with any phone brand – comes in three power variants and up to seven colors, but their availability varies by country. Xiaomi’s phone power packs can be bought in nearly all the countries where Xiaomi has so far launched – the sole exception, for now, being Indonesia.

A screenshot from Xiaomi’s Singapore site.

The three versions of the budget portable battery charger are: 16,000 mAh (for the equivalent of about US$22), 10,400 mAh (US$10), and 5,200 mAh (US$6.50). All the latest Xiaomi Power Banks feature an anodized aluminum shell.

How much juice do I need?

How big an external battery pack do you need to buy? That depends on what you need to charge. Probably the best way to figure it out is to search for the capacity – measured in mAh – of the devices you tend to travel with, and then add up the numbers to see the total amount of juice you’d need to fully charge each device once. For example, if you usually need to charge up a OnePlus One and an iPad Air 2, you’d add 3,100 mAh to 7,340 mAh to reach 10,440 mAh. So that means it’d be sufficient for you to buy the 10,400 mAh Xiaomi Power Bank – or some other brand – to rejuvenate each gadget once. Or perhaps buy the larger 16,000 mAh so you can give your phone even more charges.

So why is Xiaomi managing to sell so many of its battery packs? The simple answer is that they’re cheaper than you’d expect for so much power – which is pretty much the same strategy it employs when selling smartphones. Some of the best-selling names for juice packs like Anker, RAVpower, or Zendure are all pricier – even though they’re relatively affordable brands – than Xiaomi’s offerings, according to Amazon. In addition, Xiaomi’s increasingly stronger brand recognition means that it’s perhaps a safer bet than buying from a company you’ve never heard of.

See: Xiaomi Mi Band: at just $13, all flaws are forgiven (REVIEW)See: OnePlus One is China’s coolest smartphone… for now (REVIEW)