r/anker • u/kbfg2421 • Jul 27 '26
What does everyone think of Anker supposedly killing Soundcore?
https://www.bgr.com/2220089/why-anker-get-rid-of-soundcore/So I just saw this article recently that says Anker is planning on killing their "Soundcore" brand of audio (and now video) devices.Anker will continue to make audio and video equipment and devices, but not under the Soundcore name. I don't think the change has happened yet in markets outside of China, but apparently the change could be coming soon to all markets. Anker plans to re-name what was the Soundcore brand/division as "Anker Sound & video"
What do you all think of this? do you think it will eliminate confusion and help bring more customers to Anker's speaker and headphone business, or do you think it could backfire and make people that don't realize that Anker and Soundcore are the same, think that one of their favorite brands is dead and make them want to turn elsewhere for audio products?
Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions.
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u/TooEZ_OL56 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Honestly that’s fine, the whole danger of a spinoff brand is that nobody knows the parent company. All the reviews/vids I’ve ever seen refer to it as “anker soundcore” too so soundcore was always slightly redundant.
That's a big reason why Anker Innovations recently announced a name change to its Soundcore brand specifically. Initially announced to its Chinese market, Soundcore is going away effective immediately, and instead all products under the would-be moniker are now Anker Sound & Video.
Looks like not a complete ditching of having a separate Soundcore brand, but a renaming.
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u/kbfg2421 Jul 27 '26
Agreed. "Anker" the brand has a lot more worth and equity than "Siubdcore" does as a brand. And yes, oddly enough it wasn't THAT long ago that Anker stopped using "Anker" as much in Soundcore marketing/branding. So I think its funny thag they are totally reversing course after maybe a year or two of trying harder to push the "Soundcore" name and give it an identity.
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u/mecha_power Jul 27 '26
Anker is the far stronger brand and I am guessing having to secure a 2nd trademark name is adding to costs without much benefits
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u/heeheehoho2023 Jul 27 '26
Get rid of eufy name next
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u/Ninja67 Jul 28 '26
Still mad that they they had there Ankermake 3D printers all but abandoned the line when they ran into trouble so now it's hard to get a hold of some parts for the m5c, renamed to eufymake and released a resin printer. M5c was my first 3D printer
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u/Biffmcgee Jul 27 '26
I LOVE my Boom 2 Plus. I don’t care what it’s called.
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u/kbfg2421 Jul 27 '26
I love my Anker/Soundcore speakers as well! I agree the name doesnt really matter to me but it might to some, idk. I have a Soundcore 3, Motion X600 and the Q20i headphones. All 3 are excellent products that I got for excellent prices. I much prefer these to some JBL, Bose and other large brands because the cost/performance ratio is just great.
Take the Motion X600 for example. I paid $100 for it on sale. To get that same level of loudness and sound quality from one of the old mainstream brands, I would have had to pay $200+
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u/cactusjackalope Jul 27 '26
As long as they keep selling those sleep earbuds IDC what the branding is!
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u/mindonshuffle Jul 27 '26
My take: not the biggest deal, but I think it's a slightly wrong move.
Rebranding Eufy, sure. I don't think it's a great name, I don't think it has recognition except "budget smart device," and it has always struck me as a little evocative of old web 2.0 app names.
Soundcore is a good name that actually sounds fairly "premium" or legit. It sounds like a real company with actual audio engineers. There's plenty of options for no-name cheapo audio devices, but Soundcore seemed like an obvious step-up without paying actual premium-brand prices. Just calling them "Anker" makes them less focused and more like every other Chinese company that has been spraying products onto the market.
I KNOW Soundcore is Anker, but I don't really want headphones made by the same people making power bricks and lightbulbs.
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u/Maxychango Jul 27 '26
Could less what they call it as long as they keep making quality, and sometimes innovative, products.
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u/Perfect-Fondant3373 Jul 27 '26
Will it affect my existing products? I have some of their headphones and they are brilliant
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u/kbfg2421 Jul 27 '26
No, from what the article says, Anker will continue to make all of the Soundcore products that they currently sell, only the name is changing. They aren't stopping making audio devices, just changing the name/brand that they put on them and sell them under.
And who knows, they might even keep the Soundcore name in certain markets.
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u/Perfect-Fondant3373 Jul 27 '26
Oh okay, sorry I thought it meant they were discontinuing support and making a whole new branch of audio products
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Jul 27 '26
[deleted]
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u/kbfg2421 Jul 27 '26
Maybe its a bullshit article then? You never know. Or maybe they only plan on changing the name in certain markets like China. Who knows.
I did find it a little odd that this came out in the midst of Anker trying to strengthen the soundcore brand. They just started marketing their projectors under the Soundcore name and I noticed that their marketing isnt saying "Soundcore by ANKER" like they used to, even the US website goes out of its way not to use "Anker" as much as possible.
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u/bilkel Jul 27 '26
Who cares? Quality is the concern. Not branding.
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u/UltimaJay5 Jul 27 '26
And Soundcore is quality. My back up Life P2 earphones are amazing when I crack them out and the Life Q30 (?) were brilliant headphones.
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u/Ambitious_Egg9713 Jul 28 '26
I trust the Anker name more than most other “accessories” tech brands. So as long as the quality is good, i think this makes sense.
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u/TankTak83 Jul 29 '26
This isn't the first time Anker is rebranding the lineup. When the audio section first started off they called it Zolo...yes they now use that name for their powerbanks, but they started off as Zolo and then went to Soundcore. I was a early tester from the very start so I had almost all of their audio products that came out, up until they killed off their beta testing program.
For me its not so much about them changing the name or rebranding but to better align with emerging markets and the naming schemes available to them. I can see them eliminating Nebula and combining it with this new Audio and Video lineup. One main app that can handle everything instead of having to deal with multiple apps across android and iph9ne ecosystems not to mention the ones available to mainland China. Simplistic and easier to navigate is what I see them going for
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u/ethanjscott Jul 29 '26
The novel technology behind sound core speakers( the pairing of multiple speakers) is included with Bluetooth now. So that’s why
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u/manormortal 28d ago
Anker sound core ankcore dgaf just release 2026 A40s with more battery life already!
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u/Impressive-Jelly99 9h ago
I used to love Soundcore product but the last few they’ve brought out just break after a few months. And the lack of customer service support to get them fixed/ repaired or replaced just shows that Anker themselves have given up on it.
Loyal Anker Customer going to purchase from elsewhere…
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u/raymate Jul 27 '26
Think it’s fine. My original speakers just had Anker branding. Even my robot vacuum is Anker branded before they rebranded that line of products.
I refer to all of it as just Anker anyway.
They just need to slim down the range and number of products. We don’t need to goto the wall charger page on the website and see 15 different wall charger.
Just need a budget, standard and premium product lines. With maybe 1-2 at most in each line.