Stated suction has nearly tripled in two years, and it may be the least useful column here. Ecovacs' 2023 X2 Omni was rated at 8,000 Pa; Roborock's 2025 Saros 10 claims 22,000 Pa. But Pa has no unified international test standard — every brand measures it in its own lab under its own conditions, and iRobot refuses to publish a Pa figure at all.

The real 2025 battleground moved from suction to legs. Dreame's X50 Ultra uses a ProLeap lift mechanism the company says clears steps of about 6 cm, while Roborock's Saros line does the opposite, retracting its LiDAR turret to squeeze the body down to 7.98 cm so it fits under sofas — one machine is now asked to solve "climb over it" and "crawl under it" at the same time. Mopping has split three ways too: twin spinning pads remain mainstream, the Ecovacs X8 Pro Omni and SwitchBot S10 use continuously scraped rollers, and Roborock's Saros 10 and S8 MaxV Ultra lift a sonic vibrating pad.

One last number says a lot: only one of the ten comes from a Western brand. iRobot, the American company that launched the first Roomba in 2002 and defined the category, did not ship a robot that washes its own mop pad until 2024.