Japanese Anime Craze Hits Hong Kong (Photo : Getty Images)
Manufacturers of mobile battery packs have Pokemon Go to thank for the surge in its sales.
PC News cited the report of the Weekly Retail Tracking Service of the NPD Group which said that sales of portable power packs went up 101 percent from July 10 through 23, compared to the same two-week period in 2015. Power packs charge gadgets such as tablets and smartphones, the devices often use by Pokemon Go gamers.
As it is, demand for portable power packs had been strong since the start of 2016. As of June 30, sales increased 35 percent the last 12 months. Demand actually tapered that six weeks before the game’s launch in the U.S., growth was only 4 percent.
However, two weeks before the launch, there was a big demand for the power packs that in two weeks since its roll out, retailers sold 1.2 million units. Besides the open screen using a lot of juice, a recent update disabled the battery-saver mode of Pokemon Go for iPhones and iPads, partly explaining the higher demand for the packs.
Aside from the screen, other mobile device capabilities such as location features, motion sensors and the camera drain the battery life of gadgets, pointed out Ben Arnold, executive director and consumer technology industry analyst of NPD Group, reported Tech Times.
Niantic Labs, the developer of the game, said it removed the Battery Saver mode on iOS devices because of user complaints that it is buggy. However, Niantic said it would fix the problem within the next few days and bring back the mode.
