Dyson worked out how to make a teeny tiny motor, and now it just can't stop miniaturizing its appliances

Dyson just announced the PencilWash, a motorized wet floor cleaner that's roughly the same size as a regular, manual mop. This isn't the first time Dyson has shrunk down a traditionally bulky appliance: the PencilWash is a sister product to the Dyson PencilVac FluffyCones, an almost impossibly compact cordless vacuum.

The downsizing trend began life in a less immediately eye-catching way, in Dyson's haircare department. The brand had already shaken up the haircare market with its original Supersonic hair dryer, but for its professional-only Supersonic r it redesigned its inner workings to be far more streamlined and 'power-dense'.

That meant all the mechanics could be fitted into a tubular design that looks odd, but turned out to be excellent for extended, meticulous hair styling. Dyson recognized that it was onto a good thing, and in March last year it made the Supersonic r available to consumers, too.

Dyson then decided that if it could make a hair dryer that was 1.5 inches / 3.8cm in diameter, it could surely make a vacuum that was 1.5 inches / 3.8cm in diameter, too. Unbelievably, it was successful: all the inner workings of the PencilVac have been squeezed into a handle that's the same width as the Supersonic r. To make it happen, the brand had to engineer a Hyperdymium 140k motor that's a minuscule 1.1 inches / 2.8cm wide.

The same tech powers the PencilWash. And who knows where it'll come in next — Dyson is clearly on a shrinking spree, and it would be silly to stop there.

“We’re keen on making machines smaller and lighter while dramatically improving performance," says Dyson CTO John Churchill. "The PencilWash… brings the simplicity of a broom together with the precision and power from Dyson engineering.”

Small size; big win

The benefits of downsizing a floorcare appliance are obvious. It makes it more maneuverable, more comfortable to use for longer periods, and able to get into tighter spaces. However, some may quibble with the "improved performance" claim, because there are knock-on effects that can't entirely be glossed over.

One is battery life. The PencilVac can only manage 30 minutes of cleaning per charge, whereas the best Dyson vacuums of the flagship line can run for over an hour before needing to juice up.

Another is outright power. Here, there's an even bigger gulf between the PencilVac and the rest of the lineup: even the decade-old V8 has twice the suction power of the PencilVac (115AW versus 55AW).

Finally, there's the unavoidable lack of space. The PencilVac has to have a tiny dust cup that needs emptying regularly, and the PencilWash has to have small clean and dirty water tanks.

For me, though, to focus on these things is to miss the point. The PencilVac and PencilWash aren't meant to be the perfect choice for everyone, but they will be the perfect choice for some people. Plus, they offer something that you currently can't really find anywhere else.

For example, the cordless vacuum market is awash with vacuums that offer massive amounts of power and ever-longer runtimes, but which are heavy and bulky as a result. If you have mostly hard flooring, a small home, and awkward corners to get into, super-suction and a never-ending battery isn't going to be of any benefit to you. What you need is a small, nimble, compact vacuum with just enough power to whip the dust off your floor. The PencilVac provides just that.

Similarly, the PencilWash won't guzzle up massive spillages like a suction-based wet-and-dry vacuum, but there are many homeowners that rarely have to deal with that kind of mess, and just want something that will get their hard floors mopped in an efficient and hygienic way.

What Dyson is doing is broadening out the market to cater to a wider range of customers — and I'm excited to see what will get the shrinking treatment next.

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