The 18,000mAh Energizer phone dies an undignified death after funding failure

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The Energizer Power Max P18K Pop, an Energizer phone with a massive 18,000mAh battery, has finally finished ringing its death knell, after a wildly unsuccessful Indiegogo campaign saw it receive only 1% of the required funding.

The massive handset was shown off at MWC 2019 in February, and launched on Indiegogo in late March. However it doesn't seem like many people were taken with the Energizer-branded phone – the crowdfunding window is now closed, and the device only ended up raising $15,000 / £11,000, with 11 backers.

Avenir Telecom, who licenses the Energizer name for use on smartphones, set the crowdfunding goal at a whopping $1.2 million / £920,000, and at $599 / £461 for an individual phone, the company would need to ship 2,000 of the handsets to reach the goal.

There were also savings for multi-buy pledges, which seem to be what the few backers chose to fund, so in reality Energizer likely anticipated shipping 2,500 or 3,000 phones. Now, however, it looks like the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop will never see the light of day

Why did the Energizer phone fail?

We've already written an in-depth analysis of why no-one funded the Energizer phone, but to put it simply, there's a very limited audience for a phone the size and weight of a brick.

Despite some pretty intriguing and novel features, like the dual-sensor pop-up camera and the massive battery, we just couldn't see anyone choosing to spend their money on the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop, especially when other great phones exist for the same price.

At the end of the day, the Energizer phone was just a novelty – one with a long, confusing name too.

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.


He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist. He also currently works in film as a screenwriter, director and producer.