Introduction: What does Laifen face when Ye Hongxin asserts it's 'not overpriced compared to Dyson'?

Text | New Consumption Finance Research Society

Author | Hong Huohuo

In May of the past year, Laifen Technology, celebrated for its high-speed hair dryers, unveiled three product launches at once, introducing a minimum of seven new offerings spanning personal care, beauty, home appliances, and home lighting. This move signifies Laifen's endeavor to shed its image as a 'budget-friendly alternative to Dyson' and expand comprehensively from a single hit product to a 'lifestyle scenario matrix.'

However, the pricing strategy for certain new products has sparked consumer skepticism. Among them, the AirFold standard version of the foldable handheld fan is priced at 399 yuan, with the transparent exploration version at 459 yuan; the Styler smart hair curler is set at 499 yuan; and the new T2 Pro shaver is priced at 549 yuan. This pricing structure, particularly positioning a portable fan at nearly 400 yuan, vastly exceeds the mainstream range of 39-99 yuan for similar domestic products.

Faced with a barrage of comments such as 'Are they insane to charge 399 for a fan?', 'Laifen has lost its way,' and 'Ripping off customers,' Laifen's founder Ye Hongxin responded immediately, stating '399 is genuinely not expensive' and highlighting the high cost of their self-developed motors.

The pricing controversy underscores the deeper dilemma of Laifen's brand elevation. This brand, which rose to prominence with its 'unbeatable quality-to-price ratio,' is attempting to penetrate the mid-to-high-end market through 'price-hiking iterations.' Yet, it has repeatedly faced quality control concerns in its forays into categories like electric toothbrushes and shavers. Meanwhile, its core hair dryer business, crucial for its survival, is also under pressure from slowing market growth.

Amidst an unstable foundation, is Laifen's aggressive expansion a perilous brand leap or a necessary self-revolution? The answer will unfold over time.

Laifen, which seems to keep 'exploding,' has yet to pass the quality test while already engaging in a price war.

On the eve of the product launch, a hair dryer explosion incident thrust Laifen into the spotlight. According to Dazhong News, a consumer was using a Laifen hair dryer, purchased less than two years prior, when it suddenly exploded and caught fire, burning clothes and triggering a circuit breaker.

Similar safety incidents are not isolated. From 2024 to 2026, media reports of Laifen hair dryer explosions have surfaced annually. For instance, in December 2024, a consumer named Mr. Ye reported that his family's Laifen LF03 hair dryer suddenly exploded, with sparks flying from the handle, burning clothes and causing skin burns. In November 2025, another user claimed their Laifen SE hair dryer exploded during normal use, with sparks burning their palm. These publicly verifiable safety incidents have escalated product quality issues from isolated cases to persistent safety hazards.

Screenshot from the Heimao Complaints Platform

When combined with frequent malfunctions, smoking, short circuits, and other issues reported by consumers on platforms like Heimao Complaints and Xiaohongshu, Laifen finds itself mired in quality controversies. In March 2025, quality inspection results released by the Jiangsu Dongtai Market Supervision Administration highlighted Laifen hair dryers for failing to meet safety standards.

While the safety anxieties brought to consumers by its mainstay hair dryers have not yet been alleviated, Laifen has extended its battle lines to multiple new categories and significantly raised price tags to the 399 yuan or even 549 yuan range. It's no surprise that this has sparked public controversy.

More notably, Laifen announced its first venture into the children's market, launching the K1 and K1 Pro children's sweeping and vibrating electric toothbrushes at the 'New Daily Life' series product launch, emphasizing 'age-specific research' and 'smart gum protection.'

However, this highly anticipated new product faced professional skepticism as soon as it was unveiled. Industry analysis pointed out that its core sweeping and vibrating motor structure is highly similar to that of adult toothbrushes, and the so-called 'age-specific' features may only be achieved through software parameter adjustments, without specialized hardware reconstruction tailored to the delicate characteristics of children's oral cavities. It was criticized as a 'simple transplant.'

More critically, as of now, Laifen has not publicly disclosed any specialized safety certifications or clinical validation reports from authoritative oral institutions related to its children's toothbrushes. In the field of children's products, which demands extremely high safety standards, the lack of transparent and authoritative third-party endorsements significantly undermines its professional credibility. In contrast, mature competitors often pass ISO children's safety certifications or collaborate with top-tier hospitals for research and development.

For any brand, safety is an uncrossable red line, especially for those targeting children and family markets.

Founder Ye Hongxin has admitted that being a 'budget-friendly alternative' is just a stepping stone, with the goal of proving their innovation capabilities. From launching electric toothbrushes in 2023 to shavers in 2025, and then expanding comprehensively in 2026, their 'motor narrative' has been continuously replicated. The toothbrush category has indeed achieved phased success, with its online market share surging to second place in 2024.

Source: Dedao App - Dedao New Business School

However, Laifen's transformation pace seems overly hasty. Launching eight new products in 2026, when livestream room viewers questioned the pricing of the new products, Ye Hongxin responded with 'it's not expensive compared to Dyson,' directly inflaming consumer emotions. This exposed a disconnect between brand strategy and user perception—Laifen is eager to move towards high-endization and a 10 billion yuan scale, but its core users still perceive it as a 'cost-effective option in the 100 yuan range.'

While trust in the quality control of its hair dryers has not yet been solidified, Laifen has rashly ventured into multiple unfamiliar fields at high prices and entered the safety-sensitive children's market, putting itself in an awkward position of 'not outstanding in terms of product, not cheap in terms of price.' After all, a brand's new story requires a more solid foundation of product safety and user trust.

What Supports Its Ambition to Reach a 10 Billion Yuan Scale?

Laifen's Vice President Ma Baoyu told the media that Laifen will form a '3+N' strategy, with hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, and shavers as the foundation and core, developing N new categories that are frequently used by consumers and have room for industry innovation, thereby moving towards a 10 billion yuan scale in the next three years.

Laifen's ambition to 'reach 10 billion yuan in three years' is significant, but numerous challenges lie ahead.

The first hurdle is 'quality,' as consumer safety is paramount. The cumulative over 1,800 consumer feedback entries on Heimao Complaints, combined with the safety controversies sparked by hair dryer explosion incidents, have already made it difficult for Laifen to pass the most basic 'quality' test.

The second hurdle is 'technology,' as technology is the core of differentiated competition among brands. Laifen has indeed built large-scale proprietary factories in Dongguan and Zhuhai, claiming over 80% self-production rate for motors. However, according to statistics by Phoenix Weekly Finance, as of the end of 2025, Dongguan Laifen and its parent company Shenzhen Shuye had collectively disclosed about 342 patents, of which only 11 were 'invention authorizations' representing core R&D strength, accounting for about 3.2%, with the rest being largely design and utility model patents.

In contrast, Dyson, with 40 years of deep cultivation, has R&D investment constantly accounting for 10%-15% of its revenue, with effective invention-level patents in the thousands, and core technology accounting for well over 70%. Although Ye Hongxin stated that the future R&D investment ratio will be raised to 5%, the ultimate outcome depends on implementation. If it continues to merely refine appearances and stack hardware, it will be merely superficial.

The third hurdle is 'reputation,' as a good reputation is the foundation of brand development. Behind Laifen's label of being a 'budget-friendly alternative to major brands,' it has been unable to shake off accusations of 'plagiarism.' Its hair dryer's appearance and internal structure have been accused of being highly similar to Dyson's; its electric toothbrush's cylindrical body and magnetic charging design bear a striking resemblance to the visual language of Apple's AirPods Max; and its shaver is widely believed in the industry to be a 'precision-cut version' of a flagship model from Panasonic.

Even during the 2024 Berlin IFA Expo, at Dyson's request, a German local court directly confiscated Laifen's exhibits on grounds of infringement. Although they were later released, this case remains unresolved.

Regarding the approach of 'drawing on industry-leading solutions,' Ye Hongxin has not evaded the issue. However, blindly referencing peers while attempting to quickly shed the 'budget-friendly alternative' label is unrealistic. Laifen's slogan is 'innovation reshapes life,' but what consumers see is a 'budget-friendly imitator.' Without original credibility, 'brand upgrading' is out of the question.

In marketing, Ye Hongxin spares no effort. According to calculations by multiple industry media, Laifen's marketing expenses accounted for about 42% of its revenue in 2023, while R&D accounted for about 3.5%, with marketing investment being over 10 times that of R&D. Additionally, Laifen has spent heavily to secure high-profile slots in livestream rooms like Luo Yonghao's 'Make Friends' and launched large-scale 'KOC volume-driven' campaigns on social media.

However, controversies have followed high marketing investments. Ye Hongxin has publicly claimed that their products 'comprehensively surpass Dyson,' such extreme language, while grabbing attention, has also sown seeds of trouble. More seriously, its operating entity, Zhejiang Laifen Trading Co., Ltd., received two fines between 2024 and 2025 for promotional language that repeatedly violated the Advertising Law.

In December 2024, the company was fined 95,000 yuan by the Jingning She Autonomous County Market Supervision Administration for using unverifiable claims like 'achieving 0.1° precise control' and '300% increase in driving force' in electric toothbrush promotions, constituting false advertising. Notably, the penalty document mentioned that the company had already been penalized for violating the Advertising Law on May 31 of the same year, making this a 'repeat offense of the same type within a year.' In September 2025, the company was fined 68,000 yuan again by the same regulatory bureau for using absolute terms like 'China's first' and 'China's pioneer' in promotions.

Meanwhile, Laifen's original advantage products are also on the decline. Hair dryers are Laifen's only consistently profitable core business. Although Laifen hair dryers still ranked first online with a 26.5% market share in August 2025, their leading advantage had declined by 5.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year. At the same time, they must fend off encirclement from 'budget-friendly alternatives to the budget-friendly alternative,' such as the Dreame G10 series and Xiaomi H501, which are priced below 100 yuan. Laifen was also forced to launch the 199 yuan SE Lite in a hasty response, sinking into a low-price competition quagmire.

Meanwhile, both the toothbrush and shaver lines are embroiled in tough battles. The former incurred a net loss of about 80 million yuan in 2024, being 'ground into the dust' by usmile; the latter, despite over 100 million yuan in R&D investment over four years, is mired in production capacity issues due to extremely low yields in CNC processes, with Ye Hongxin also admitting that the category has extremely low gross margins.

Laifen, which once gained market attention with 'technology democratization,' now faces more doubts in the public sphere regarding quality, safety, and pricing. How to solidly lay the foundation of product safety and reliability while holding high the banners of innovation and high-endization will be the key test for its ability to truly transcend the 'budget-friendly alternative' stage and achieve sustainable growth.

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