The pioneer of robotic vacuum cleaners has fallen, and the global market has entered the "Chinese moment."

Author | Huang Yu

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Once regarded as the "pioneer of global robotic vacuum cleaners," the American company iRobot has now lost its luster.

Recently, iRobot officially announced its application for bankruptcy restructuring. This American giant, which once defined the robotic vacuum cleaner industry, will ultimately be taken over by a company from across the ocean—Shenzhen Shanjun Robotics and its subsidiary Santrum (collectively referred to as "PICEA," hereinafter referred to as "Shanjun").

It is worth mentioning that Shanjun is iRobot's largest creditor and main OEM. This bankruptcy restructuring is expected to be finalized by February 2026, with Shanjun acquiring 100% equity of iRobot.

This historic moment marks a significant event in the transfer of discourse power in the global smart hardware market, and it is also a dramatic reshaping of the global robotic vacuum cleaner industry landscape. The once dominant position of overseas markets has collapsed, and a number of Chinese companies are rewriting the rules of the robotic vacuum cleaner industry at an astonishing speed.

It is not Silicon Valley giants that have pushed iRobot off the table, but rather new forces from China. Five Chinese brands—Roborock, ECOVACS, ZhiMi, Xiaomi, and YunJing—have already captured the top five spots in global robotic vacuum cleaner shipments, with MOVA, DJI, and others hot on their heels.

Zhang Junbin, founder and CEO of YunJing, told Wall Street Insight: "The current global robotic vacuum cleaner market is essentially an 'internal war' among Chinese companies, a comprehensive competition among the top five manufacturers in terms of technological innovation iteration capabilities, global channels, and supply chain efficiency."

Whether Shanjun, which has acquired iRobot, can achieve a key leap from an OEM leader to an independent brand remains uncertain. After all, on the ruins of the fallen giant, a number of Chinese robotic vacuum cleaner brands are eyeing the opportunity, preparing to welcome a new round of overseas competitive landscape dividends.

The Pioneer Pushed Off the Table

The fall of iRobot is one of the most typical cases of "the old waves dying on the beach" in the global consumer technology sector in recent years.

iRobot was founded in 1990 by three engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, initially focusing on producing defense robots (search and rescue, mine clearance). In 2002, iRobot launched the first household robotic vacuum cleaner, Roomba, pioneering the home cleaning robot market and gradually establishing it as its main business.

As a long-time global leader occupying over 60% of the market share, iRobot was synonymous with robotic vacuum cleaners.

Chinese domestic robotic vacuum cleaner brands did not emerge until 2009, when ECOVACS, originally a vacuum cleaner OEM, entered the robotic vacuum cleaner field and launched its first robotic vacuum cleaner, "Dibao." However, for a long time, foreign brands accounted for over 90% of the market share in China's robotic vacuum cleaner market.

2016 became a "watershed" year for the industry, as Chinese brands broke the foreign monopoly with "laser navigation technology," shifting the market from "foreign-led" to "local brand breakout," with rapid expansion in scale. Meanwhile, starting in 2018, Chinese robotic vacuum cleaner brands began to focus on overseas markets With the intensification of global market competition, stagnation in its own operations, and the failure of Amazon's acquisition, iRobot has gradually fallen into difficulties.

According to IDC data, in 2024, iRobot's markets in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific are facing collective impacts from Chinese manufacturers, with global shipments declining by 6.7% and market share dropping to 13.7%, although it still ranks second.

In the first three quarters of this year, Chinese brands (Roborock, ECOVACS, ZhiMi, Xiaomi, and YunJing) dominated the global vacuum cleaner shipment rankings, collectively accounting for 65.7% of the market share, while iRobot has fallen out of the global top five for the first time.

IDC pointed out that Chinese manufacturers are continuously squeezing iRobot's market space with high cost-performance ratios and rapid product iteration. Its localization efforts in emerging markets are relatively weak, and its product line is relatively singular.

Regarding the main reasons for iRobot's decline, former Executive President of ZhiMi Technology in China, Guo Renjie, also told Wall Street Insight that this is due to insufficient product performance and innovation, with leading Chinese brands like ZhiMi already being two to three generations ahead of iRobot in terms of products.

However, thanks to its first-mover advantage and brand influence, iRobot still holds the top sales position in the Canadian, Japanese, and American markets in 2024.

Zhang Junbin believes that if Shanjing successfully acquires iRobot, it may impact the North American vacuum cleaner market landscape in the short term, as iRobot currently holds about 20%-30% of the North American vacuum cleaner market.

This restructuring marks the end of iRobot's independent operation era. For Shanjing, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a gamble.

Acquiring iRobot's brand assets means that Shanjing can directly penetrate the core areas of the high-end markets in Europe and America, breaking free from the fate of low profits and dependence on OEMs. However, in today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, how long can the brand halo last? The challenge for Shanjing lies in whether it can quickly stem the losses of iRobot and keep pace with the innovation rhythm of its Chinese counterparts.

Global Competition Among Chinese Manufacturers

iRobot's bankruptcy restructuring not only marks the end of a veteran tech giant but also signals that the global vacuum cleaner industry has officially entered the "Chinese time."

IDC's Senior Analyst Zhao Siquan believes that the steady growth of the global vacuum cleaner market in 2025 will be the result of multiple core factors resonating, including the continuous iteration of Chinese manufacturers' product capabilities, upgrades in channel operation efficiency, and the deep release of market demand.

For Chinese brands, future market share growth is expected to come from iRobot. Chinese vacuum cleaner brands may usher in a new round of overseas competitive landscape dividends.

A relevant person in charge of MOVA told Wall Street Insight that the market share relinquished by iRobot will be taken over by Chinese brands. "iRobot has basically lost its market in Europe, and its offline channel share in the United States has also significantly declined. This provides direct market growth space for Chinese brands." It is worth mentioning that MOVA also aimed at the global market from its inception.

Although Chinese manufacturers have already dominated the top five positions in global vacuum cleaner shipments, the global market space remains vast Zhang Junbin also pointed out that globally, the current penetration rate of robotic vacuum cleaners in households is still less than 10%, and the industry has not yet reached maturity, leaving ample room for future growth. For the top five manufacturers, the overseas market continues to offer dividends.

"Currently, the growth momentum of global robotic vacuum cleaners mainly comes from the stimulation of emerging markets, such as the Middle East, Europe, and Africa; while the growth in the domestic market is primarily attributed to the boost in consumer demand driven by national subsidy policies," said Zhang Junbin.

In fact, against the backdrop of a saturated domestic robotic vacuum cleaner industry, focusing on overseas markets has become a consensus in the industry over the past few years, leading major robotic vacuum manufacturers to invest more in this direction.

Qin Yichao, an analyst at Huachuang Securities, pointed out that the continuous expansion of domestic manufacturers into overseas regions not only helps them avoid the intense competition in the Chinese market but also ensures stable performance during the domestic brand consolidation period, thanks to the stronger profitability of export businesses.

As the company with the highest shipment volume of robotic vacuum cleaners in China and the second highest globally, ECOVACS is accelerating its expansion into overseas markets. In the first half of this year, the overseas business revenue of its ECOVACS and Tineco brands accounted for 40.8% of total revenue. Among them, the overseas business revenue of the ECOVACS brand accounted for 42.2%, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

Starting large-scale overseas expansion in 2023, Yunji has entered the global top five in shipment volume for the first time this year. According to Wall Street Insights, in 2023, Yunji's overseas revenue accounted for about 10%, expected to grow to 25% in 2024, with a future goal of achieving a domestic to overseas sales ratio of 1:1.

In the first half of 2025, Yunji is expected to maintain over 200% growth in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Analysts at Guolian Minsheng Securities pointed out that Chinese brands are undoubtedly leading high growth in robotic vacuum cleaners across various overseas regions. Recently, following the conclusion of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, Roborock's overall GMV in Europe increased by 59% year-on-year, while its GMV in North America grew by at least 50%; the GMV of Trifo in Europe increased by over 90% year-on-year, and its GMV in North America grew by 270% year-on-year; ECOVACS' GMV in Europe and North America grew at rates between those of Roborock and Trifo.

However, the overseas market is not a place to win easily. As the Chinese contingent collectively ventures abroad, the "involution" battle in the domestic market has also spread overseas.

In this rapidly changing industry, the window for technological dividends is shrinking sharply.

According to analysts at Guolian Minsheng Securities, before the next round of technological and product transformation, the overseas market for robotic vacuum cleaners may enter a phase of meticulous channel cultivation, focusing on exploring incremental growth and solidifying existing markets, with competition among leading brands likely to revolve around the details of terminal actions for some time.

The aforementioned MOVA-related person believes that future global competition will mainly occur between leading Chinese brands and their American counterparts (such as Shark), with competition dimensions becoming more comprehensive, covering technology, supply chains, branding, and global operational capabilities.

Business development is like rowing upstream; not advancing is retreating. The downfall of iRobot serves as a mirror, reflecting the cruel truth that without innovation, one faces extinction. In this winner-takes-all era, only those enterprises that truly understand technological innovation and dare to compete globally can ultimately remain at the table