Why Anker Is Worth a Look for Charging Accessories

Anker’s GaN chargers, power banks, and cables deliver fast, safe charging at fair prices. From Nano to PowerCore, Anker leads charging accessories.

We have a soft spot for Anker, and it started with a dead phone at an airport gate. A stranger handed us a tiny charger that topped our phone up before boarding, and the name on the side was Anker. The company was founded in 2011 by Steven Yang, a former Google engineer who decided the charging market needed something between disposable no-name bricks and overpriced originals. Almost fifteen years later, Anker has become the default answer to the question “which charger should we buy?”, with its products routinely holding the top spots in Amazon’s charging categories. We have since bought more Anker gear than we care to admit, and almost none of it has let us down. If you have been paying full price for brand-name adapters and cables, this is the brand worth a look before you spend another dollar.

GaN Power in a Shirt Pocket

The Nano series is where Anker’s gallium nitride (GaN) technology shines, and it is the reason the company’s chargers keep topping “best travel charger” lists year after year. Our daily carry is the Nano II 65W: a brick roughly 60 percent smaller than Apple’s original 61W charger that still drives a MacBook, an iPad, and a phone at full speed through two USB-C ports and one USB-A. GaN components switch faster and run cooler than the silicon inside older chargers, which is exactly how Anker packs laptop-class power into something that disappears into a shirt pocket. The company says it has sold tens of millions of Nano chargers since the line launched, and the retail data backs it up — Nano models are permanent residents of Amazon’s best-seller lists in the charging category. On a recent work trip we ran our laptop all day off the little 65W brick in a café, something our old charger could not do without hunting for a power strip. That single afternoon is why we stopped rolling our eyes at “travel charger” claims and started trusting the label.

Power Banks That Actually Last

Beyond wall chargers, Anker’s PowerCore line owns the portable side of our bag. The PowerCore 20000mAh pack has flown with us more times than most of our relatives: it holds roughly four full phone charges, and its USB-C Power Delivery port can even top up a laptop in a pinch. If you want more muscle, the Anker Prime range pushes past 100W and adds a small digital display showing exactly how many watts are flowing to your device — gimmicky until you are troubleshooting a slow charge and finally see the culprit. Back at our desk, the Anker 3-in-1 wireless charging cube handles our phone, earbuds, and watch on a single pad, retiring three cables and a tangle of adapters in one move. The honest catch is that Anker’s flagship stuff costs more than bargain-bin alternatives, and the Prime line especially edges toward premium pricing. The trade-off shows up in the build: braided cables, firm hinges, and charging speeds that actually match the numbers printed on the box, which is more than we can say for half the accessories we have owned.

Deals Worth Grabbing Right Now

Here is the part we like best: Anker discounts its lineup hard during sale windows, and we are in one right now. Through the back-to-school stretch, best sellers like the Nano 65W, the PowerCore 20000mAh, and the 3-in-1 cube are marked down up to 30 percent, and several bundles pair chargers with cables for even less. The Nano 65W has been known to dip under $30 during these events, which is absurd value for a charger that runs a laptop. Stock on the discounted colors and kit bundles tends to sell through fast, and prices snap back the moment the window closes. If you have been waiting for a reason to retire that fraying cable and its ancient brick, this is it.

Keep Reading

If you enjoyed this review, you might like these too:

• Why Sony Is Worth a Smart Choice for Headphones
• Why DJI Is Worth a Look for Aerial Photography
• Why JBL Is Worth Checking Out for Portable Speakers
• Why Peloton Is Worth a Look for Home Fitness

Final Thoughts

Anker earned its reputation the hard way: consistent quality, honest specs, and prices that undercut the big names without skipping safety certifications. We have recommended their chargers to more friends than we can count, and we have yet to hear a complaint that was not about a product we told them to skip. Start with the Nano 65W or a PowerCore pack, live with it in your bag for a few weeks, and expand from there. Your devices will charge faster, your cables will stop dying, and your power strip will finally have room to breathe.