Hands On with Anker's New Earbuds and Chargers
Anker has long been a leading maker of phone chargers and external batteries, both in terms of brand perception and technology leadership. A few years ago, Anker offered some of the most powerful chargers in the smallest packages. Then, it felt like charging tech coasted for while. But with this year's lineup, I'm back to being impressed with how much charging power Anker can put in a tiny little charger.
Anker Nano Charger
The Anker Nano has long been my go-to compact charger. The latest iteration is still tiny, but has impressive 45-watt charging, 180º folding plug prongs, and a little display plus button.
Anker 45W Nano charger with display
The 180º folding prongs have two open positions, giving you more options to fit tight spots, and a way to have the USB cord hang down instead of sticking out, for a more secure connection. And of course you can fold them in so they're not stabbing your stuff when the charger is in your bag. I love this feature.
Why a display and button? Well, this display will show you your charging speed, which is nice to confirm that it's fast charging and how fast. And the touch button (the indent on the top) will cycle through a few screens, the most important of which is a mode selector that will let you choose "Care" mode, which means a slower charging speed for overnight charging, which is much better for long-term battery health. The button is simple enough to use: tap once to switch screens; double-tap to change a setting.
It's also smart enough to detect when a newer iPhone model is connected, so it can further optimize charging for each model.
The only downside I could find is that the display is quite dim.
But the price seems quite reasonable to me: $40.
Anker Prime Charger
Anker has a whole series of Prime charging products, but this is one of the most versatile. This is the closest thing to a universal USB-C travel charger for everything. With it, you can charge a laptop, a phone, and even a tablet, all at the same time. And it's still smaller than most of Apple's laptop chargers.
The key innovation in this year's model is that it can output 160 watts total, including up to 140 watts from any one of the three USB-C ports. Use any port to charge any device, and it will automatically fast-charge it. Times three.
As a travel charger, it has folding plug prongs. And the three USB-C ports are smartly on the bottom so they're not sticking out.
As with the Nano, there's a display and touch button. You can use this to control charging speeds, so if you want to slow down your laptop charging so your tablet can charge faster, you can do that. But again, the display on the dim side.
It also has some smart charging logic that can automatically optimize which device charges at which speed. Anker claims that these features can deliver the equivalent of 140 + 35 + 35 watts of power (210 watts total) to three devices at once. I'm not sure how that works, but even if that's optimistic, 160 actual watts should be enough to charge multiple devices quite quickly.
I also appreciate that this charger is USB-C only. I'm personally trying to get USB-A out of my life, so I don't want a superfluous USB-A port taking up precious space on what's supposed to be a compact-as-possible travel device.
So if you just want to have one travel charger for everything, I think it's safe to say you can get this one and never worry about chargers or charging speeds again. But that peace of mind comes at a price: $150.
iPhone 15 Series Goes All-In on USB-C and Dynamic Island
Samsung S24 Series Adds More AI, Updates the Hardware
iPhone 16 Brings More Features to All Price Points, Including New Camera Control
Anker's New Wireless Chargers and Power Banks Charge Faster
Google Pixel 8 Series Saves the Best for the Pro
