Purchased a brand new telephone not too long ago? You in all probability will not see a USB adapter within the field until it helps a proprietary fast-charging normal. That is an enormous deal, particularly as we’re all carrying round extra gear lately – laptops, headphones, keyboards and mice, and no matter else you is likely to be toting. Getting one of the best telephone charger to your wants is essential, so we’ve got the important thing particulars you may wish to spot and a few strong product suggestions.
Relying in your gadget load and whether or not you may be utilizing any given adapter at residence or on the go, it’s possible you’ll resolve to go for a compact, single-port wall wart that matches snugly in your backpack or purse or a extra sturdy block performing as a semi-permanent fixture hanging off an outlet in your bed room or lounge that may speedily juice up a number of units without delay. We’ll characteristic slightly bit from each classes as we go on. You too can scroll to see some acronyms to search for when making your buy issues.
The best single-port USB phone chargers
Shargeek Retro 35w Charger
1. Most unique USB charger
Make charging fun again
$34 $49 Save $15
- Adorable retro design
- Comes with cute stickers and lights up
- Should charge most phones quickly
- It’s a bit bulky for the wattage
- Also slightly pricey for the wattage
You didn’t think a wall wart could be this fun, did you?
Shargeek’s adorable Retro charger is styled after an old Apple Mac in incredible detail, complete with that aging beige colorway. To make things even more exciting, the screen illuminates while charging with different colors corresponding to your charging speed. It even comes packed with a selection of stickers, so you can choose what your little computer is displaying. Its folding prongs also help make it just that much more portable. And while 35W might not be enough for a laptop, it’ll charge most phones at full speed.
Originally $50, you can find one for under $40 from either Shargeek directly or Amazon.
Anker
Anker 511 Charger (Nano 3, 30W)
2. Best compact USB charger
Small but mighty
$18.39 $22.99 Save $4.6
It comes in five colors, the prongs folds into the body, and it’s oh so small because of the highly-efficient Gallium Nitride guts inside of it. Anker’s 30W Nano 3 adapter delivers all the power your new phone needs and then some.
- Smallest on our list to quick-charge most phones
- You can find it for under $20
- 30W isn’t as far as some phones go
Anker
Anker 715 Nano II 65W Charger
3. Most powerful single-port USB charger
Gives you the watts
$33.99 $49.99 Save $16
Anker’s most capable single-port USB-C phone charger is still small enough to carry around everywhere you go. 65W will juice up devices like those from Samsung that support 45W PPS.
- Smallest on our list to quick-charge most phones
- You can find it for under $20
- 30W isn’t as far as some phones go
Anker’s Nano range of wall adapters takes full advantage of Gallium Nitride (GaN), a highly-capacitive material that is more efficient than ones manufacturers have previously used. This means smaller blocks that can fit snugly into your backpack or purse. Add in foldable plug prongs and they’re just perfect little power packages.
The Nano chargers come in four different wattage levels, but we think the 30W Nano 3 and 65W Nano II options pack the best value for punch.
The company touts its proprietary PowerIQ 3.0 technology across multiple site and product listings as cross-compatible with Qualcomm Quick Charge and USB Power Delivery (with PPS support, too). Prices range from $13.99 to $49.99. You may find some extra-sweet discounts if you buy direct from Anker.
The best multi-port USB phone chargers
Ugreen
Ugreen Nexode 200w
4. Most powerful multi-port USB charger
The best of the best
$179.99 $199.99 Save $20
Offering an insane amount of power for up to six devices at once in a relatively tiny footprint, if you want the best USB-C charger that money can buy, look no further.
- 200W spreads across six devices
- Delivers up to 100W simultaneously to two devices
- Supports USB-A and USB-C connections
- Discrete plug head and cable
- $200 is a bit much for an adapter
Emperor Palpatine isn’t the only one who can amass “UNLIMITED POWER” – you can get pretty close with Ugreen’s 200W Nexode multi-port adapter. This absolute unit comes with four USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. It also relies on a dedicated AC cable and plug-head to get to the outlet.
The top two USB-C ports can charge your MacBooks or Windows tablets simultaneously at 100W apiece. The other two Type C ports can individually max out at 65W while the full USB ports cap at 22.5W.
The Nexode 200W adapter costs $199.99 – for the price, you do get a complimentary 1-meter Type C to Type C cable. It supports USB Power Delivery 3.0 (including PPS) and Quick Charge 4+.
Ugreen
Ugreen Nexode 100W Charger
5. Best overall USB charger
The right fit for most people
$49.99 $79.99 Save $30
A smaller, but still powerful four-port wall adapter with integrated folding prongs, Ugreen’s 100W Nexode charger should be the right fit for most people.
- Four ports is enough for most people
- 100W maximum single-device output
- Integrated plug prongs
- Outlet hog, even with GaN
Everyone’s needs differ, and getting the right tool to meet that need is important. Ugreen also makes a four-port 100W adapter under its Nexode brand to fit the bill. This GaN block has an integrated plug-head and features three USB-C ports and one USB-A port. The top two ports can charge at 100W, while the third USB-C and USB-A ports go at 22.5W. When all four ports are in use, the top USB-C port provides up to 45W, the middle one 30W, and the other two 10.5W.
It’s much cheaper than our top option and still provides huge power via USB PD 3.0 (PPS) and Quick Charge 4+ for multiple devices. You’ll find the Nexode 100W adapter for as low as $49.99 at Walmart, but it’ll cost north of $70 at Amazon and Ugreen.
Anker
Anker 523 Charger (Nano 3, 47W)
6. Best compact multi-port USB charger
Lipstick wattage
An absolutely miniscule two-device wall adapter from Anker. This wart from the Nano 3 lineup can charge at up to 45W for one device or 27W and 20W for a pair.
- Can charge one device at 45W
- Or two devices at 27W and 20W
- Balances size with versatility
- Only available from Amazon
Anker also has a GaN adapter in its Nano 3 series that can charge two devices simultaneously via USB-C, pushing a total of 47W to them – that’s 27W for the one connected to the top port and 20W for the other. You can also plug just one device in and get up to 45W. It’s probably the most powerful lipstick-sized item you’ll own.
As it supports Anker’s proprietary PowerIQ 3.0 technology, it should be able to work with USB Power Delivery, PPS, and Quick Charge 4+. Oddly, Anker does not sell this charger on its site. You’ll only find it on Amazon for $29.99.
What to look for when buying a USB phone charger
Regarding USB connector standards, Type C has ruled the day pretty much everywhere. It’s tiny compared to full-size Type A; you don’t need to mind the orientation too much. And long-suffering iPhone owners in Europe will finally be able to upgrade from Apple’s inadequate Lightning standard quickly. You may probably even have cables with Sort A connectors as a result of your laptop computer or desktop machine has them. It is a small consideration, however one thing to not neglect.
For chargers with a number of ports, you may additionally must know the utmost cost charges for every port. There could also be a main port that may ship an marketed full charge and a decrease charge when a number of units are plugged in. Different ports could solely assist a decrease most charge, even when just one gadget is on the charger.
Most significantly, learn up in your gadget’s specs. That features the utmost enter it might probably settle for and which charging requirements it helps. As we stated on the prime, some manufacturers – particularly these from China like Oppo, OnePlus, and Vivo – incorporate a proprietary charging expertise like SuperVOOC into their energy administration stack. In these instances, the wall adapter performs key roles (most significantly as a warmth sink) in reaching cost charges of 60W, 80W, 100W, or much more. You should utilize non-SuperVOOC chargers with these units, however, at the very least within the case of OnePlus telephones, the quickest you’ll cost with them is at 18W.
Charging acronyms to search for
There are quite a lot of phrases and acronyms to look out for within the charging world, particularly in the case of fast charging. Keep in mind these when purchasing, and you will have a greater expertise.
Qualcomm Fast Cost (QC)
Quick, adaptable charging charges have been a precedence within the smartphone age. In contrast to desktop computer systems, these are with comparatively small lots and extra unstable climates. Because the market chief (by a large margin) in cell software processors, Qualcomm got here up with and has iterated on Fast Cost, standardising the voltage and amperage ranges that adapters may use to ship speeds larger than 7.5W to telephones and tablets operating on Snapdragon platforms.
As of 2020, the most recent iteration is Fast Cost 5. It could possibly facilitate cost charges of 100W or extra with temperatures as much as 10°C cooler than earlier variations. A Fast Cost 5 adapter is appropriate and may fast-charge units supporting earlier variations. Qualcomm says you should not have to fret about connector sorts or the cable you are utilizing for Fast Cost. Extra particulars about cross-iteration compatibility can be found from Qualcomm.
USB Energy Supply (USB PD) and Programmable Energy Provide (PPS)
The USB Implementers Discussion board (USB-IF) got here up with Energy Supply in 2012 to increase quick charging standardization throughout extra units – specifically, ones that do not have their energy managed by a Qualcomm chip, together with telephones, laptops, some cameras, and equipment.
USB PD launch 3.1, which dates to 2021, brings new specs for max charging speeds between 100W and 240W – sufficient to even cost essentially the most power-hungry of gaming laptops and changeable charging directionality. In contrast to with Fast Cost, you may want to make sure that your cable (particularly, a Sort-C to Sort-C cable) is on the identical web page as your adapter and gadget to maximise your advantages. As of mid-2023, producers have but to get 240W USB-C energy adapters out to market, however we are able to anticipate them quickly sufficient.
Programmable Energy Provide is a substandard of Energy Supply launch 3.0. The brief model of that is that it performs referee, making certain the charger is not pushing extra wattage than the gadget is requesting. Any further, unused wattage manifests as warmth and stresses the gadget’s battery. PPS’s aim is to decrease that stress and lengthen your battery’s helpful life. It is an awesome characteristic to have – so nice, the truth is, Samsung has adopted it into its own-brand fast-charge adapters.
If you happen to’re shopping for a multi-port charger, you may wish to examine the product guide as some ports could not assist the most recent Energy Supply normal that was marketed. USB-A ports particularly could solely assist earlier Energy Supply and Fast Cost specs.
How did we select these telephone chargers?
I and the Pocket-lint crew have put within the analysis to find highly-rated adapters that cowl a variety of elements that differing customers worth together with dimension, ease of use, energy capability, and gadget load. Between all of us, we’ve got had expertise in utilizing Anker, Ugreen, and Shargeek chargers – not all of them on this checklist, however sufficient of them for us to think about these names dependable.
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