In the context of fierce competition and ongoing internal struggles in the global smart home cleaning industry, every technological breakthrough could become a key variable in reshaping the industry landscape.
At the 2025 IFA (International Consumer Electronics Fair) in Berlin, Qian Cheng, Vice Chairman of Ecovacs Group and CEO of Ecovacs Robotics, showcased the brand’s latest technological breakthroughs in multi-scenario cleaning. Among them, the world’s first unlimited-range floor cleaning robot “Deebot X11” equipped with PowerBoost instant supercharging technology stands out, with its innovative features of “instant full charge and long-lasting endurance” quickly sparking widespread discussion in the industry and market.
As living standards improve, consumer demand for efficient and intelligent cleaning products has surged, prompting many companies to position themselves to seize market opportunities, leading to increasingly fierce competition. In this context, the launch of Ecovacs’ “Deebot X11” not only represents a concentrated release of technological strength but also serves as a display of its capabilities to the industry and market.
Performance Issues Cannot Hide Internal Wounds“Internal Injuries”
As a pioneer in the industry, Ecovacs has long held an important position in the smart home cleaning sector.
According to the financial report for the first half of 2025, its revenue and net profit figures are impressive. The group achieved revenue of 8.676 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.37%, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 979 million yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 60.84%, and a net profit of 505 million yuan in the second quarter, continuing the strong growth momentum from the first quarter.
Among them, the sales revenue of Ecovacs brand service robots reached 4.805 billion yuan, accounting for 55.39% of total revenue; the sales revenue of the Tineco brand high-end smart home appliances reached 3.661 billion yuan, accounting for 42.19%. The combined revenue of Ecovacs and Tineco’s two proprietary brands reached 8.466 billion yuan, accounting for 97.58% of the company’s total revenue during the reporting period.
It is undeniable that multiple factors, including the release of national subsidy policies, the formation of an innovative product matrix, deepening cross-price band layouts, and the collaborative efforts of all channels, have jointly supported the steady growth of Ecovacs’ performance. However, further analysis of the financial report data reveals potential “internal injuries” gradually coming to light.
On one hand, Ecovacs’ profitability issues remain unresolved, and the aftereffects of its past strategy of lowering prices to capture market share continue to persist.
From a gross margin perspective, although the gross margin for the first half of 2025 rose to 49.71%, compared to 46.52% in 2024, this increase is largely due to product structure adjustments and the short-term stimulation of high-end product sales by national subsidy policies. Additionally, since 2021, Ecovacs’ net profit margin has been continuously declining. Although there was a significant profit increase in the first half of this year, the net profit margin was only 11.29%, still not recovering to its previously high levels.
On the other hand, the slowdown in the growth of the floor cleaning robot market is inevitable, coupled with the unsustainability of national subsidies, leaving uncertainty regarding the sustainability of Ecovacs’ performance growth.
According to data from IDC (International Data Corporation), the global smart floor cleaning robot market shipped 5.096 million units in the first quarter of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 11.9%, with the growth rate significantly declining compared to the early stages of industry development. In the domestic market, stimulated by the “old-for-new” policy, the year-on-year increase in shipments reached 21.4%, but this policy is unsustainable. After the policy effect fades, the growth rate in the domestic market is expected to return to normal or even lower.
Although Ecovacs performed well in the first half of 2025, the “internal injuries” do exist. External factors such as industry growth slowdown and uncertainty in national subsidy policies, along with internal issues such as the need to improve profitability, pose challenges to Ecovacs’ future development.
Outmatched by Dreame Technology, Losing Global Market Share
The floor cleaning robot battlefield, once considered Ecovacs’ stronghold, has evolved into a battleground of multiple forces. Emerging brands such as Dreame Technology, Xiaomi, and Roborock have risen strongly through technological innovation and market strategies, launching differentiated offensives that have made Ecovacs increasingly fatigued in competition.
According to IDC data, in the first quarter of 2025, Dreame Technology ranked first in the global smart floor cleaning robot market share with 19.3%, followed by Ecovacs (13.6%), Roborock (11.3%), Xiaomi (9.9%), and iRobot (9.3%), with the top five brands accounting for 63.4% of the global market.
There is no doubt that Ecovacs, which once established a competitive barrier in the floor cleaning robot market through technological accumulation and early market entry, is continuously losing ground as new forces like Dreame Technology rise strongly.
In terms of R&D, both Ecovacs and Dreame Technology have demonstrated a firm commitment to “technology-driven” strategies.
It is reported that Ecovacs’ R&D expenditure in the first half of the year was 507 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%, with a total of 2545 patents, focusing on cutting-edge fields such as three-dimensional spatial understanding and multimodal large models; Dreame Technology, on the other hand, surpassed with R&D expenses of 685 million yuan and a year-on-year growth rate of 67.28%, adding 580 new patents, with R&D personnel accounting for over 30% of the workforce.
In terms of channels, Ecovacs has built significant channel barriers with a large number of offline stores, while Dreame Technology has rapidly broken through in channel competition through a differentiated combination strategy of “experience stores + specialty stores”.
Ecovacs’ channel strength is commendable.According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, in the second quarter of 2025, the online sales of Ecovacs brand floor cleaning robots and Tineco brand floor washers increased by 57.5% and 11.4%, respectively. As of the second quarter of 2025, Ecovacs and Tineco brands have established over 8100 offline retail outlets nationwide, with nearly 170 flagship stores covering multiple formats.
In contrast, Dreame Technology initially gained traffic through the Xiaomi ecosystem, quickly established its own channel system, and then rapidly expanded through the combination strategy of “experience stores + specialty stores”, allowing consumers to directly experience product differences and effectively addressing the pain point of online sales lacking experience.
In terms of products, Ecovacs has widely deployed Tineco floor washers, window cleaning robots, and lawn mowing robots across multiple lines, while Dreame Technology follows a product strategy of “single-point breakthroughs and gradual expansion”, each with its pros and cons.
While Ecovacs’ full-category strategy is beneficial for brand ecosystem construction, it also carries the risk of resource dispersion and excessive dilution of R&D and marketing investments, as there are many competitors in the floor washer and lawn mowing robot sectors. Meanwhile, Dreame Technology is attempting to gradually penetrate the mid-to-low-end market after establishing a foothold in high performance and cost-effectiveness, and the difficulty of crossing into the floor washing machine and even smart washing machine fields is also considerable.
In the field of smart hardware, there are no eternal kings, only continuous innovation. As technology giants like DJI and Huawei enter the market with strong technological foundations, the competitive landscape will continue to intensify, and Ecovacs’ response strategies need to be more prudent.
New Era, New Opportunities, New Challenges
The floor cleaning robot industry is at a transitional window from a single-function cleaning tool to a composite family service robot. This transformation will not only redefine the competitive landscape of the industry but also test the technological reserves, strategic vision, and ecosystem-building capabilities of floor cleaning robot companies represented by Ecovacs.
Firstly, traditional cleaning algorithms can no longer meet the needs of the new generation of family service robots, requiring breakthroughs in key technologies such as computer vision, natural language processing, and environmental cognition. Ecovacs must adhere to a technology-driven strategy, continuously increase investment in AI R&D, and maintain a leading advantage in core areas such as computer vision and SLAM algorithms.
According to publicly available data, on August 8, 2025, Ecovacs established a company focused on embodied intelligent robots—Qingding Embodied Intelligent Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 50 million yuan. This move marks its deep layout into the field of embodied intelligent robots.
Secondly, Ecovacs recognized the limitations of a single product early on and has laid out product lines such as window cleaning robots and air purifiers. However, the era of family service robots requires not only a product matrix but also true ecological collaboration. Ecovacs needs to build an open ecosystem, establishing strategic partnerships with smart home platforms and content service providers to create cross-device and cross-scenario service experiences.
Thirdly, in the era of family service robots, the connotation of user experience is undergoing fundamental changes, shifting from a simple evaluation of cleaning effectiveness to a comprehensive human-machine interaction experience. Ecovacs needs to reshape its brand positioning from “cleaning appliance expert” to “family service partner”, establishing user loyalty through high-quality experiences.
In summary, Ecovacs is at a critical period of transformation and upgrading. Facing challenges of technological breakthroughs and pressures from emerging brands, only by grasping industry change trends and continuously innovating can it maintain its leading position in the era of family service robots. This transformation is not only about the survival of the enterprise but will also influence the development direction of the entire industry.