Back in our day, phones used to come with chargers – now you’re lucky if you get a cable. The good news is that USB-C and USB charging standards have done away with the compatibility issue of the past (well, mostly), so a few good chargers are all you need.
That means that you have to pick the chargers yourself, though. Here are the ones we use. And yes, you do need multiple – for your home, maybe for work and your car, maybe for travel. We have separated them into groups based on use-case.
Table of Contents:
Wall chargers
These are the simplest kind there is – a wall wart with one or two ports, the kind you used to get in the box. And so, chargers from phone brands are a good place to start.
The Google Pixel Flex Dual Port 67W charger is one of the first with support for “Adjustable Voltage Supply”, AVS, which is the standard that iPhone 17 phones use. Either port can deliver up to 67W to an AVS device, but it also supports basic USB-PD and the more advanced USB-PPS. It’s a Swiss Army knife of a charger and we got one for the office for testing since we expect AVS to gain wider adoption, while PD and PPS are already widespread.
If you are looking for an iPhone charger specifically, Apple’s 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max is the obvious pick – it can deliver 60W for around 10-15 minutes and then it drops to 40W. The iPhone doesn’t need 60W for long, anyway, so this charger goes as fast as the phone can.
Samsung hasn’t jumped on the AVS bandwagon, so chargers like the 45W Power Adapter (EP-T4511) only support PD and PPS. This one claims super low standby power – “under 5mW” is the official rating – so it’s not wasting electricity when you leave it plugged in. A basic USB charger can burn through 0.1-0.5W just doing nothing and if you leave it plugged in for years (which you are not supposed to do, but it’s what usually happens), it adds up.
Looking past phone brand chargers, we also got one of these at the office – the Baseus Enercore CJ11 with a retractable USB-C cable. It also has two USB-C ports on board. You can use this at home and grab it for occasional travel – with this one you can be sure that you haven’t forgotten a USB-C cable. For dedicated travel chargers, look at the section below.
We also have several ACEFAST chargers. The ACEFAST PD65W charger, for example, has three ports – two USB-C and one USB-A for that old cable you still use. The transparent design looks pretty cool, it’s almost a shame to plug it in an out of the way socket. Use code SKYZRQMI for $20 off.
Some of us are long-time Baseus users and something like the Picogo 100W is a solid pick if you need to charge several devices at once. You can get 67W+12W+12W out of the three ports (two USB-C and one USB-A) – the handy display will show you how much each port is delivering.
Similarly, we have an assortment of Anker chargers too – the Nano series strikes a good balance between size and power. The Anker 735 Nano II 65W can do up to 65W on one of its USB-C ports (up to 22.5W on the USB-A port) and 40W+12W+12W when all three ports are in use.
Laptop chargers
Modern laptops usually support USB-C charging – for some, it’s the only charging method, others still have barrel plugs (or, if you are looking at MacBooks, a MagSafe port). For laptops, you need a charger that can deliver at least 65W and often a lot more. You can also use these to charge large power banks.
Apple added USB-C charging to MacBooks and iPads before it did for iPhones. So it sells powerful chargers like these, the 96W and the 140W charger. For a MacBook Air, you don’t need all that much, but the MacBook Pros will definitely benefit from the extra power. Both chargers have only a single USB-C port, but you can use them to charge other devices while the laptop is not in use or runs on battery.
The 140W Laptop Charger from Anker can do up to 140W on one of its top two USB-C ports – that’s enough for all but the most bonkers of gaming laptops. If using all four ports, the charger delivers 65W on the top USB-C port, 45W and 12W on the second and third, respectively, and up to 12W on the sole USB-A port. There is a display that shows the power draw on each port as well as various modes, e.g. High Performance or Cooling Mode.
You can also go all out with the Anker Prime Charger 250W. This one has a total of six USB ports (4x USB-C + 2x USB-A) with the top Type C port delivering up to 140W. However, it can split its power between all available ports – delivering up to 240W/250W with two, three or even all ports in use. It has a 2.26” LCD to show the status (and also a clock, because why not). The dial on the side controls things like port priority, so you can divvy up the power however you need.
The Baseus EnerFill FH11 GaN charger is quite powerful for its price – it can deliver the full 140W to a single laptop or split it for two laptops, each getting 70W. If you use all four ports, the charger outputs 65W+45W+9W+9W.
Car chargers
New cars have at least some USB ports on board – USB-A or USB-C, depending on the age of the car – some even have Qi wireless chargers. But not all cars have such ports and often they are not particularly powerful. Wireless Android Auto can sap away your phone’s battery surprisingly quickly!
In one of our older cars we use this 90W UGREEN charger. Retractable cables are cool in general, but in a car they are quite important – you don’t want dangling wires on your dashboard. And if your passengers need to charge up their devices too, there’s a regular USB-C port and a USB-A port on board too. By the way, if 90W sounds like too much, UGREEN also offers a 60W variant.
Naturally, Baseus have car chargers with retractable cables too. The Baseus Ultra-Mini Car Charger offers up to 60W with its 31.5” retractable USB-C cable, which can be split in two with the regular USB-C port.
The Baseus PrimeTrip VR2 Max does up to 163W and has two retractable cables, 31.5” each, plus an extra USB-C and a USB-A port. There’s a 240W variant too, but do check your car’s fuses first! 240W is more power than the typical auxiliary power outlet (the “cigarette lighter” when we were younger) can handle.
Travel chargers
Here we will list adapters that you can take when you travel. These include tiny ones that you can throw in your backpack and not worry about the weight and ones that will keep you charged up almost anywhere in the world.
While USB-C won the DC power war, AC is another matter. The Baseus Encore CG11 is a 70W universal travel adapter, which can plug into wall sockets in 200+ countries around the world. This gives you one universal port that you can plug AC devices into, plus one retractable USB-C cable, one regular USB-C port and two USB-A ports. You can carry a dedicated plug adapter and a separate charger too, of course, but a combo unit like this one takes up less space. We took one on a trip to China and it worked great.
Anker have a similar device, the Anker Nano Travel Adapter. This one can plug into any wall outlet and it gives you one regular US outlet – plus two USB-C and two USB-A ports, of course (no retractable cables here). Note that the built-in USB ports can’t deliver much power – at 20W, they can slow-charge a phone, but we wouldn’t rely on them for a laptop.
If you are not leaving the country – or going to a country with compatible wall outlets – then we’d recommend an Anker Nano 30W or 45W. They are powerful enough to keep your phone charged and you can forget they are in your bag – the 45W adapter weighs 2.11oz/60g (that’s only a fraction more than the included cable!) and measures 1.3 x 1.26 x 1.5in/33x32x36.9mm.
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