It should be no secret by now that the charger that comes with your smartphone isn’t the fastest or finest one available. Actually, in most cases, the charger isn’t even that good. On the other hand, what you don’t want to do is to buy a new charger, that’s not from your manufacturer, and may be a fire hazard or unsafe for your device.
What’s the right path? It’s an upgrade charger from a known, respected, licensed, Apple-approved manufacturer. One great one is the Anker Nano USB-C phone charger.
September 2022 Update
It’s over one year in and this charger is still going strong. I use it multiple time a week with a full range of devices, including a Motorola Android phone, a new iPad, an iPhone 12, and iPhone 11 Pro, a Kindle and more. It’s still quite fast (though not my fastest charger) and operates perfectly. There is no electronic buzz emitted from it and I’ve yet to encounter any hiccups.
I would note that after buying this I also purchased an Anker 40W 2-Port PIQ 3.0, which the company says is they’re, “PowerPort III Duo Type C Foldable Fast Charger” which I like a lot as well. It’s a good deal larger than the Nano, but you get two charging points and somewhat faster charging (about 1/3rd faster in my testing).
Anker Nano Basic Info
The Anker Nano, which is the shorter name for the Anker PowerPort III Nano, is a wall-wart-style phone charger. This is designed to charger USB-C devices or to work with USB-C cables with a converter. This means the charger is fine to work with…
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Mini
- iPhone SE
- iPad Mini
- iPad Pro
- iPad Air
- Airpods: 1st gen, 2nd gen, 3rd gen, Pro, Pro 2nd gen
- Pixel 5
- Pixel 5
- Samsung Galaxy
- Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite
…and many other such devices. You’ll need a USB-C-to-Lightning cable for the Apple devices, but all new Apple phones and tablets include one of those.
Specifications
- Input: 120-240V ~ 0.6A 50-60Hz
- Output: 9.0V 2.2A, 5.0V 3.0A
- Plug Type: UBS-C
- Power Level: 20W (over 3x the power of a standard iPhone charger)
- Dimensions: 1.8 x 1.1 x 1.1 inches
Note: No cable is included. You can use the cable that was included with your iPhone 12 or buy a certified USB-C-to-Lightning cable.
As you can see, the charger is quite small. It’s right around the same size as the standard iPhone or Galaxy charger, while being smaller than an iPad charger and most other tablet chargers.
Speed
The number one advantage of an aftermarket phone charger is speed. The Anker Nano is designed to charge an iPhone 12 from 0% to 50% in around 25 minutes. In my testing with an iPhone 12 Mini this has largely proven to be true. The charger works better went going from a lower percentage to a middle one, than from a middle to max, but that’s true of just about any charger.
The Anker Nano charger has very good speed, rivaling that found when using a 15W iPad charger with your phone. The speed also matches that of Anker’s LED lamps which have super fast charging USB ports built into them.
Pumping too much juice into a phone too quickly can be harmful for the battery, but the PowerPower Nano III and the new type of GAN chargers from Anker and Aukey have proven to be both safe and effective.
Price and Availability
The PowerPower Nano III is sold almost exclusively through Amazon and generally goes for about $17 (though we all know Amazon’s prices fluctuate). If you need the cable a well, you an buy a cable and charger combination for around $30.