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By Sarah Witman and Nick Guy 7w Battery Inside Integrated Led Emergency Power Supplyip65
We’ve added the Scosche PowerVolt PD30, launched at CES 2024, to What to look forward to.
If you’ve ever scrambled out the door with your phone’s battery in the red, you know that power is precious, and the faster you can get it, the better. The Anker PowerPort III Nano is the best option for charging any phone fast: It’s tiny and inexpensive, and it can get a fully drained phone battery to more than 50% full in half an hour.
USB-C chargers can top up phones faster than older USB-A models can, and they work with both iPhones and Android devices. Most phones, handheld game consoles, and other devices that charge via USB-C come with a compatible charging cable, but otherwise you may have to buy a cable separately.
This small and inexpensive charger will fast-charge any phone, including iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel handsets. But it has only one port.
This charger’s two USB-C ports let you charge a phone and another small device at top speed. It’s not as compact as single-port chargers, but it has a fold-up plug and a pocketable shape.
This model has fast-charging USB-C and USB-A ports that provide maximum power no matter what cable you use, together in one small and reliable charger.
Affordable, quick, and compact, this charger can provide fast power to as many as four devices at once, although not at the maximum speeds USB-C offers.
This small and inexpensive charger will fast-charge any phone, including iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel handsets. But it has only one port.
If you want the smallest power brick available that’ll charge your phone at the fastest speeds, we recommend the single-port Anker PowerPort III Nano. It’s the same size as Apple’s 5-watt charger (the one that Apple used to include in iPhone boxes), and it supplies up to 20 W over USB-C.
That’s enough power to charge most phones—whether you have an iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy model, a Google Pixel handset, or some other Android phone with fast-charging capabilities—more than halfway full in just 30 minutes. This model also powers Apple’s MagSafe wireless charging system at its maximum 15 W.
This charger’s two USB-C ports let you charge a phone and another small device at top speed. It’s not as compact as single-port chargers, but it has a fold-up plug and a pocketable shape.
Although it costs about twice as much as of this writing, and doesn’t include a cable, the Boost Charge Pro 45W Dual USB-C Wall Charger outpaces our top pick in several key ways. Its two USB-C ports have a combined maximum output of a whopping 45 W, so you can fast-charge two small devices at once (such as an iPhone and an Apple Watch) or one larger device (such as an iPad Pro).
It’s slightly heavier than our top pick but still weighs just a few ounces, and its folding plug and rounded edges make it easy to pack in a pocket or purse.
This model has fast-charging USB-C and USB-A ports that provide maximum power no matter what cable you use, together in one small and reliable charger.
The RAVPower PD 30W 2-Port USB-C Fast Charger (RP-PC144) is more powerful than the smaller Anker PowerPort III Nano. Its USB-C port can charge at up to 30 W, and its USB-A port allows you to charge a second device at up to 18 W (when both ports are in use, the charger has a total maximum output of 30 W). In our testing, the USB-C port charged a phone to 85% in an hour, compared with 70% from the USB-A port.
Affordable, quick, and compact, this charger can provide fast power to as many as four devices at once, although not at the maximum speeds USB-C offers.
The Anker PowerPort 4 is the model to choose if you carry a lot of gear—say, a phone, a smartwatch, a power bank, and Bluetooth headphones—or if you’re traveling with companions. Each of its four ports supports a 12 W power draw, as fast a charge as you can get from standard USB-A. No other reliable four-port charger packs that kind of power into such a diminutive size and at such a low price.
I’ve been a science journalist for nearly a decade, covering a wide variety of topics from particle physics to satellite remote sensing. Since joining Wirecutter in 2017, I’ve reported on USB-C cables, power banks, surge protectors, and more.
The current version of this guide builds on years of work by Wirecutter’s Nick Guy, who has reviewed mobile accessories since 2011 and covered them for Wirecutter for over six years.
If the USB charger that came with your phone or tablet is broken or lost—or, as in the case of the iPhone 12 or newer, it never came with one—a new third-party charger may be the most cost-effective replacement. But even if you still have the original chargers for all your devices, you might want to consider something that can charge your devices from a wall outlet more quickly, or charge multiple devices at the same time.
Most people have multiple devices that charge via USB—tablets, smartphones, power banks, e-readers, portable speakers, Bluetooth headphones, fitness trackers, and more—which frequently need to be recharged at the same time. Good multiport chargers cost only a little more than single-port chargers and aren’t much larger. If you think you might take advantage of a second port, they’re worth a few dollars extra, but you’ll save money and reduce bulk with a single-port model.
Although USB-C cables look similar, they’re not one-size-fits-all. We have recommendations for every situation.
Multiport chargers are also great for travel. Instead of having to pack a gaggle of chargers for the family—or when you’re traveling alone, for your phone, tablet, headset, and Bluetooth speaker—you can bring one charger that handles everything. (Of course, you’ll have to pack the appropriate USB-C, Lightning, and/or Micro-USB cables, too.)
Many phones, such as the iPhone 12 and newer, can be recharged as fast as possible (up to roughly 50% charged in about 30 minutes) with a 20 W charger. Although you can still use a less-powerful charger with these phones, they’ll simply charge more slowly.
After poring over charging catalogs from dozens of companies, all with established track records of great products and service, we whittled the list down based on the following criteria:
To find the top options in each category, we put the finalists through several tests:
This small and inexpensive charger will fast-charge any phone, including iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel handsets. But it has only one port.
Today’s USB-C phone chargers are tiny and cheap—often between $10 and $20, sometimes even with a good cable. Anker’s PowerPort III Nano is the best, most compact option for sending the fastest possible charge to most phones, capable of delivering 20 W over USB-C.
It’s impressively compact. The PowerPort III Nano is very small. Measuring 1.75 inches long, including the non-folding prongs, and only a little more than an inch wide and tall, its dimensions are almost identical to those of the 5 W charger that Apple packed with most iPhones for the past decade. It’s less than half the size of Apple’s comparable 20 W charger.
It has only one port, but it delivers up to 20 W. The PowerPort III Nano has a single USB-C port. Our testing hardware showed that the port worked as advertised, with a proper 20 W power draw measured at 9 volts/2.2 amps. (It also supports 15 W charging, which makes it compatible with USB-C devices that don’t use the Power Delivery standard, such as some Android phones.)
As with all of the other USB-C chargers we recommend in this guide, you should see most phones charge from empty to somewhere between 50% and 55% full in half an hour or so, compared with 20% full in the same time period on a 5 W charger. In fact, during our tests the iPhone 13 battery reached about 52% capacity in that time and 83% in an hour.
It works with Apple MagSafe accessories. The Anker charger also provides full power to MagSafe wireless charging accessories, including Apple’s MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger and the others we recommend.
It comes with a cable. This charger comes with a 6-foot version of one of our favorite cables, the Anker PowerLine II, with USB-C and Lightning connectors. (That’s great for owners of older iPhones, but if you have an iPhone 15 or Android device you’ll need to supply your own cable.) It has sturdy housings, supports up to 18 W charging speeds, and its MFi certification means it meets Apple’s standards for safety and performance.
It has a long warranty, and Anker’s customer service is trustworthy. Anker’s 18-month warranty is on a par with many of its competitors’ coverage offerings. On the rare occasions Wirecutter staffers have had to take advantage of the protection, they’ve found the process to be quick and easy.
This charger’s two USB-C ports let you charge a phone and another small device at top speed. It’s not as compact as single-port chargers, but it has a fold-up plug and a pocketable shape.
If you’d like to fast-charge two devices at once—say, an iPhone 15 and a Kindle—the Boost Charge Pro 45W Dual USB-C Wall Charger is your best bet. It even has enough power to fast-charge one larger device, such as an iPad Pro or Chromebook.
It has two powerful USB-C ports. Both of the Belkin’s USB-C ports are capable of charging a single device faster than our top pick (we measured up to 45 W from each, though most phones max out at 30 W charging speeds). And when charging two devices, we measured up to 25 W from the upper port and 20 W from the lower port, which is still enough power to fast-charge most phones.
It has an easily packable size and shape. Unlike our top pick, the Belkin has a folding plug, and it weighs just a couple of ounces more. Despite being a bit larger (it measures 1.8 by 1.6 by 1.5 inches), its curved edges make it easy to slip into a pocket or purse.
It has a long warranty and good customer support. Belkin backs this charger with a two-year warranty, which is even longer than that of our top pick, and we’ve found their customer support to be responsive and reliable.
It’s on the pricier side but offers good value. This is one of the most expensive models we tested, despite not including a charging cable, but it packs a lot of power into a small package. Plus, if you need a cable for an iPhone 15 or Android phone, it’s available in a bundle with a 6.6-foot USB-C cable for $10 more, as of this writing (you’d likely pay as much or more for any of our favorite USB-C cables).
This model has fast-charging USB-C and USB-A ports that provide maximum power no matter what cable you use, together in one small and reliable charger.
The RAVPower PD 30W 2-Port USB C Fast Charger (RP-PC144) is the best dual-port charger for charging your phone at the maximum speed, no matter what kind of charging port it uses.
It delivers high speed from both ports, even at the same time. Its USB-C port can charge a single device at up to 30 W, and its USB-A port can do so at up to 18 W, allowing you to charge your phone two to three times faster than with the standard chargers included with most phones. When both ports are in use, it has a total max output of 30 W, supplying up to 18 W from the USB-C port and up to 12 W from the USB-A port.
It’s a great option if your devices aren’t all USB-C yet. Although a USB-C port is smaller and faster than USB-A, and works with more kinds of devices, the USB-C standard is not yet ubiquitous. This charger combines the benefits of USB-C with the convenience of USB-A, which means you can charge most phones as fast as possible, while also powering a second device on the USB-A port at a respectable rate.
It’s nearly as fast as our top pick. In our tests, the RP-PC144 performed exactly as promised. You can expect an iPhone 13 to charge to about 36% in a half hour on the USB-A port and closer to 50% on the USB-C port.
Despite offering two ports, it’s still quite small. This power brick is larger than what comes with most phones, but it isn’t huge. It measures about 1.9 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 1.2 inches thick—noticeably smaller than the Apple 30W USB-C Power Adapter—and weighs less than 3 ounces. Plus, a folding plug makes it convenient for travel.
Its warranty is even longer than that of our top pick. RAVPower backs this model with a 30-month warranty, which gives you more time than the rest of our picks to ensure that it’s working properly.
It comes with a (short) cable. Included with the charger is a 3-foot cable that can connect a USB-C port to a Lightning-powered device, such as an iPhone 14 or older. (Owners of the iPhone 15 or Android devices will need to bring their own C-to-C cable.) It is sturdily built and packs up small for travel, though we’d generally prefer a longer cable for everyday use.
Affordable, quick, and compact, this charger can provide fast power to as many as four devices at once, although not at the maximum speeds USB-C offers.
The Anker PowerPort 4 offers four USB-A ports in a compact design, making it ideal for a couple who’s traveling (or one person who uses a ton of gear). It lets you charge as many as four devices at once—say, two iPhones and two Apple Watches—albeit at a slower pace than our other picks.
It’s one of the fastest multiport chargers we’ve tested. Despite its advertised 40 W maximum output, we measured 12 W draw from all four ports at the same time, for about 48 W total. Unless your device has Quick Charge capabilities, that’s as fast as it can charge via USB-A, and many multiport chargers like this can’t provide that much power to every port at the same time. Based on our experience with the PowerPort 4, we can say that even if the speeds do drop a bit in practical use, you can still be sure of fast USB-A charging across all the ports.
It’s bulkier than one- or two-port chargers, but still not huge. At just over an inch thick, the PowerPort 4 has the same thickness as our top pick, and its largest sides measure 2.6 by 2.6 inches—small enough to plug into a standard wall outlet without blocking the second socket.
While many multiport chargers have a long cord between the charger’s body and the wall outlet, the Anker PowerPort 4 plugs directly into the outlet, so it’s less bulky to carry. And like most of our picks, it has a convenient fold-up plug.
It’s relatively affordable. Although it doesn’t come with a cable, it’s one of the most inexpensive multiport chargers we’ve tested.
It has the same warranty as our top pick. The PowerPort 4 comes with an 18-month warranty and is backed by Anker’s reliably solid customer service.
If you don’t need a cable, and you’d prefer a more powerful charger with a folding plug and lots of color options: The Anker 511 Nano III 30W Charger (A2147) is a solid alternative to our top pick.
If you want two chargers, and don’t need a cable: Get the RAVPower PD Pioneer 20W Wall Charger (RP-PC150). It only comes in a two-pack, but if you need multiple chargers anyway this one has similar specs to our top pick and is a better deal than buying two of that model (or any of our other picks).
If you don’t need a cable, and you’d prefer a more powerful charger with a slimmer shape and a folding plug: Get the Belkin WCH008dqWH. You get slightly less power for the size and price compared with our top pick, but it has a flatter profile that doesn’t jut out as far from the wall.
If you want a charger with USB-C and USB-A charging, and don’t need a cable: Get the RAVPower 30W Dual Port Compact PD Charger (RP-PC132). It’s visually identical to our also-great pick, the RP-PC144, and performed similarly in our testing, but unlike that model it doesn’t come with a charging cable.
Scosche launched the PowerVolt PD30 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2024, and we plan to test it against our current picks when it becomes available this fall. It has a single USB-C port with a 30 W rated max output, a compact shape, and a fold-up plug.
This is not a comprehensive list of all the USB phone chargers we’ve tested. We have removed any models that have been discontinued or no longer meet our requirements.
The following models are more powerful than our top pick and add a folding plug, but they’re bigger and heavier:
The following models are as powerful as our top pick, and add a folding plug, but they’re bigger and heavier:
The following models are more powerful than our top pick, but they weigh more and don’t add any standout features:
The following models are as powerful as our top pick, but they weigh more and don’t add any standout features:
The following models have two fast-charging USB-C ports and a folding plug like our upgrade pick, but they’re bulkier and less powerful:
Like our upgrade pick, the Anker 521 Nano Pro 40W Charger (A2038) has two fast-charging USB-C ports. However, it is heavier, has a lower total output, and lacks a folding plug.
The Aukey Focus Duo 30W PD Charger (PA-D1) has a fast-charging USB-C port, a USB-A port, and a folding plug, but it weighs more than otherwise comparable models.
The Nimble Wally Mini Wall Charger has a fast-charging USB-C port, a USB-A port, and a folding plug, but it is heavier and has a lower total output than otherwise comparable models.
The RAVPower 60W 6-Port Desktop USB Charging Station with iSmart (RP-PC028) and RAVPower 60W 6-Port Desktop Charger with QC 3.0 (RP-PC029) have more USB-A ports than other models we tested, but they’re too large for travel and lack USB-C ports.
This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.
Sarah Witman is a senior staff writer who reports on powering and charging technology for Wirecutter. She previously worked as a writer, editor, and fact checker for several science magazines. Though she researches and tests chargers for a living, her phone battery is usually low.
Nick Guy is a former senior staff writer covering Apple and accessories at Wirecutter. He has been reviewing iPhones, iPads, and related tech since 2011—and stopped counting after he tested his 1,000th case. It’s impossible for him not to mentally catalog any case he sees. He once had the bright idea to build and burn down a room to test fireproof safes.
by Nick Guy and Sarah Witman
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