The Energizer phone with enormous battery fails to reach crowdfunding goal

The Energizer phone from Avenir Telecom with the gigantic 18,000mAh battery has proven that getting press doesn’t translate to sales. The P18K Pop got tons of mileage at Mobile World Congress for that comically-large battery and its equally comically-large size (think the thickness of three iPhones). But that press didn’t mean people wanted to get it. The phone’s crowdfunding campaign asked for £927,873 to hit its target (around CA$1.6 million) and only reached one percent of its target. It only got 11 backers, who contributed a total of £11,602 (around CA$20,000). The perks ranged from one P18K unit at £425 (around CA$740) to a three-pack at £1,227 (around CA$2,100). It was supposed to deliver the phones in October, but it’s highly unlikely that they will do that now. As Engadget points out, the huge target might mean that this could just be a marketing stunt, because asking for that much money for this really hefty phone seems like too much of an ask.

This Energizer phone has an 18,000mAh battery

Energizer teased this phone ahead of MWC 2019, but in case you haven't seen it yet. Here's a quick look at this brick of a phone from French company Avenir Holdings. The Energizer P18K Pop has a gigantic 18,000mAh battery—and it shows. It basically looks like a power bank attached to the back of a smartphone. What do you get by having this big, chunky boy? You're promised up to 50 days on standby, 90 hours of calls, or two straight days of video. You need a full eight hours to completely charge its battery.

In front, you get a 6.2-inch edge-to-edge display. The lack of a notch is because the camera is hidden and just pops up when you need it (thus, the Pop in its name). It has two front-facing cameras and three at the back. The Energizer P18k Pop runs on a MediaTek Helio P70, Android Pie, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB expandable storage. It also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which is wise because trying to wrap your hand around and get to a fingerprint reader in the back isn't ideal. According to a rep from Avenir Telecom, we could expect to see this phone as early as June 2019 with a starting price of around €600 (around CA$900).

Source: 9to5Google