Somewhere in China, your gym socks, your baby’s onesies and your muddy sneakers no longer have to share a bath. Four-drum washing machines are a real thing there: one tower, four separate drums, each with its own water in and water out. Everyday clothes get the big drum, underwear and baby clothes get tiny private drums, and shoes get a drum of their own, complete with a built-in scrub brush. Laundry, but make it a gated community.
Hong Kong lawmaker Dominic Lee posted a quick clip of one this week, and it is exactly as tidy as it sounds:
Four drum washing machines are becoming popular in Chinese households! This one appliance has separate compartments for daily clothes, shoes, and intimate wear! No need for multiple machines anymore, and it keeps things more hygienic!
— Dominic Lee (@dominictsz) October 16, 2026
So which washer is that?
The post does not name a brand, but the machine in the clip looks like the Hisense TRESOR Marshmallow U7S (Hisense calls the series “Quanjiatong,” roughly “the whole-family drum,” model WH120U7S+WV50G). The door layout matches, two small round doors up top with a bigger door below them, and the drawer on the lower unit carries Hisense’s TRESOR badge. That makes the U7S our best guess, not a confirmed ID. We found no comment from Hisense on the clip.
Four drums, six jobs
Hisense launched the U7S on March 5, 2026, and pitches it as a “6-in-1” laundry station that squeezes all of this into about half a cubic meter:
- 12kg main washer with an 8kg heat-pump dryer built in, for the everyday pile
- 1kg baby/pet drum that washes and dries
- 1kg underwear drum that washes and dries
- 3kg shoe drum that washes shoes, then does double duty as a waterless shoe deodorizer
Each drum has its own water in and drain, so nothing crosses over, but the whole tower still only needs one water hookup and one drain. It is about 600mm wide, 595mm deep and 1,495mm tall, so it slides into a standard cabinet instead of eating the whole laundry room.
The shoe drum is the star
This is the part that makes people stop scrolling. The 3kg shoe drum fits one pair of EU size 45 sneakers (about a US men’s 11), two pairs of house slippers or three pairs of kids’ shoes. Inside is what Hisense calls a 3D bionic magic brush, with fine bristles for the fabric and stiff ones for the crud, and Hisense claims more than 3,000 slaps and scrubs per wash. There is even a dedicated “little white shoes” cycle for anyone keeping their white sneakers white. When the shoes are clean but still smell like a locker room, a no-water active-oxygen mode deodorizes them.
What it costs (in China)
The flagship U7S lists at CNY 12,498 (about $1,750), and a youth version is CNY 10,098 (about $1,415). Hisense’s official mall still lists the flagship at CNY 12,498. Chinese buyers can also stack a government trade-in subsidy on top. And people are buying: Hisense says it sold more than 10,000 units in the first month, and celebrated the 10,000th one rolling off its Qingdao line in late April.
Haier got to four drums first
Hisense is not alone. Haier’s Laundry Care Hub launched in China on July 9, 2025, billed as the world’s first four-drum washer. It stacks a 10kg washer, a 10kg dryer and two 1kg mini drums (one for kids’ clothes, one certified for gentle bra washing) into just 0.36 square meters of floor. Haier shaved its depth to 592mm so it fits a standard 600mm European cabinet, and showed it at IFA in Berlin in both 2025 and 2026. Haier’s current China listing (model H1210-MBLE/T98TU1) says 12kg wash and 10kg dry, at a reference price of CNY 19,999 (about $2,800). Haier has not announced a European price or ship date yet. The big difference? No shoe drum. Your sneakers stay in the sink.
Are they really “becoming popular”?
Mostly yes, with a little hype. Multi-drum washers are one of the few hot spots in China’s appliance market. Overall washer sales in China fell 3.2% in 2025 to 41.66 million units, per AVC data cited by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA), while multi-drum models kept growing. Haier says its three-drum Leader model sold 100,000 units in four months, and Hisense’s earlier Cotton Candy Ultra multi-drum washer also passed 100,000. Midea and Panasonic have their own versions. But CHEAA also says multi-drum washers are only in about 2% of homes so far, so “every Chinese household” is a stretch. Hot new category? Yes. In every apartment? Not yet.
Can you buy one in the US?
No. Neither the Hisense U7S nor the Haier Laundry Care Hub is sold in the US, and neither company has announced US plans. Hisense USA’s current U7 washer is a regular single-drum machine. So there is nothing to buy here, just something to be jealous of while you dig a sock out of the fitted sheet.
Haier has been trying to reinvent laundry for a while. Back in 2010 it pitched a human-powered washing machine. For more clever Chinese street tech, check out China’s smart LED crosswalks and the flat robot that slides under badly parked cars and re-parks them.
Sources: Dominic Lee on X | China Appliance Net (U7S launch) | Jiemian | Guangming Online (10,000 units) | Hisense Mall listing | IT Home (U7S specs) | Haier press release | Haier product page | JingPost (IFA 2026) | CHEAA (multi-drum market).
Images: Hisense, Haier.
