Xinhua network, beijing, september 17th
Zhou jianjie
In recent days, beijing citizens, ms. Lee, pressed the water-purificationer key, leaving her frowning on the screen with a “chip-replacement reminder” — the second reminder this year that hundreds of dollars are needed each time a replacement takes several years to count more expensive than the machine itself。
Without exception, mr. Wang's air purification unit was replaced with a filter after six months of use, but he was able to check that the filter dust was found to be low and that no significant change in the value of the vent was detected by the detection device。
They're confused, and now a lot of smart house electricity users feel the same way。
"can afford to buy machines, can't afford to replace waste materials."
In recent years, intelligent household electricity, such as air cleaners, water purification units and ground-cleaning robots, has reached thousands of households and, at the same time, facilitated the emergence of a huge “food economy”. Non-observed waste materials such as filters, filtration cores, brushes and mops are becoming key factors influencing consumer experience and industry development。
A number of consumers have indicated that smart-house electricity appears to be less expensive and accessible, but that the subsequent replacement of spare parts and consumables has been costly, and that the business model of “hardware loss and profit in materials” has become a “promotive” for consumers to face。
Figure is the price of part of the household's electrical parts on multiple electric power platforms
On the electrician platform, the prices of raw materials are high: electric toothbrush brushes are running at close to $50, machine-scaved mops are more than $20, and dishwashers, capsules for capsules, etc. The millet water cleaner ro counter-infiltration core (applicable 400g) is sold at $459. 08; and the koworth floor water scrubber 2 is sold at $99. The replacement cycles for these consumables are mostly replaced once in several months and less daily。
In terms of actual usage costs, a water purification unit (e. G., a. O. Smith, linne, millet, etc.) sold at a price of us$ 2,000-5,000 would cost approximately us$ 500 per year for the replacement of the filter core, which would cost more than the machine price for five years。
According to the white paper on after-sale services for water-purification equipment, 2023, the annual replacement cost of mainstream brand cores is approximately $600-1200, representing 62-78 per cent of the full life cycle usage cost of products。
The price of a single activated carbon filtration core in a water purification unit is $300 a year
A brand-new protection service bill shows that a single activated carbon complex filter price of $300 per year is still required for consumers to pay 270 dollars, even if coupons are used。
What makes consumers more vulnerable is that the replacement cycle of materials is often determined unilaterally by enterprises。
Part of the water purification unit sets water flow and time patterns, and even if the quantity of water flow is not limited, the machine will indicate replacements as long as the limit expires。
Mr. Zhou stated to the journalist that he had measured the quality of the water with a tds test pen and that the water purification device continued to alert the police and could not be used properly without a filter。
Black cat's got a lot of complaints about the filters
In black cat complaints platforms, complaints about water filter cores are not rare, and are focused on issues such as “low frequency of use but frequent tips to replace” “no direct recommendation for filtering after sale”。
What is the price of materials
Enterprises force consumers to purchase raw materials through technological means, which is an important reason for the high price of domestic electricity。
During a visit to a number of electric stores in beijing city, journalists found that some salesmen had specifically warned of the need to purchase brands with their own filter cores, otherwise even installation would trigger machine alarms, which would render them inoperable。
When asked for the reasons, the salesman claimed that it was necessary for the maintenance staff to use a specific nfc brush or scrutinizing rifle to keep the machine running in order to prevent subsequent problems from being caused by pirated cores。
In platforms such as idle fish, although there are third-party core sales at lower prices than the original ones, the seller has stated openly that “there may be warning signs that problems will have to be addressed after sale”。
Various brands have specific nfc scans
Industry experts believe that the price of the original assembly material is high, partly due to brand premiums and patent costs。
Water purification plants, for example, would develop an autonomous intellectual property rights-based core structure and retort, using a commercial model of “low-priced machine, high-priced material” — lower unit prices to attract consumers to buy and earn profits from higher-priced materials. This model, while lowering the consumer's purchase threshold, significantly increases spending on the use phase。
In the marketing chain, traders usually avoid talking about the price of waste materials。
Journalists visited a number of electric stores and found that almost all brand salesmen focused on the functional advantages of intelligent household electricity, such as the purification effects of cleaners, the health security of water purification units, etc., with little voluntary reference to the cost of subsequent maintenance and replacement of materials, and that only after repeated inquiries by consumers would a brief description be given of the cycle and cost of replanting core replacement。
Breaking the road: we have to break our dependence on waste materials
As of the end of august 2025, more than 66 million consumers in the country had been involved in the exchange of old and new household electricity, and the cumulative purchase of 109 million new household electricity had also led to an increase in demand for complementary materials。
The regulation of material standards and open interfaces are key to breaking brand monopolies and reducing consumption costs。
The deputy secretary-general of the china society for law studies on the protection of consumer rights and interests, chen weijiang, suggested that the industry should clarify the cycle for the replacement of materials, promote common interfaces and safeguard the rights of consumers to know and choose。
It is gratifying to note that some enterprises and platforms are already actively advancing。
In the area of electric toothbrushes, the headline brands of pocchiore b and philips are fully open, and third-party brushes are suitable for use, breaking the brand exclusive supply pattern。
In the area of capsule coffee machines, brands such as starbucks, seesaw and richmond offer generic capsule products that enrich consumer choices。
Some electrical platforms are also active in helping to harmonize standards, such as kyodong, in the context of the clean water cleaning operation, to optimize the calculation logic of core lifetimes and to introduce third-party testing agencies to test core lifetimes, promote harmonization of standards for materials from the supply chain end to support the opening of interfaces and standard norms。
Universal access to smart household electricity is a manifestation of the upgrading of consumption, and the healthy development of the “material economy” is a sign of industry maturity. When convenience is no longer held hostage by “hidden consumption”, and when business interests are balanced with user needs, intelligent life can truly return to the essence of “uplifting quality of life”。
When buying smart household electricity, consumers should take full account of the costs of later use and avoid neglecting long-term expenditures at a short price。
Chen yingjiang suggested that users should learn to use specialized tools (e. G. Tds test pens to test water quality, air detectors to test clean-up effects) to determine the real life of the material, not to listen blindly to machine tips, and to select qualified third-party consumables, taking into account both economic and safety considerations and avoiding the purchase of poor-quality products at a cost。
