A powerful, efficient charge in a compact package.
Last year, Apple made an announcement that charging adapters would no longer be shipped with their phones. They did this as a part of their environmental program in an effort to help remove waste from their products. While this is a smart move environmentally, it does leave some people in a bind. Fortunately, Anker has a remarkable little wall charger called the PowerPort III Nano that provides an efficient, powerful charge for modern iPhones.
DETAILS
The Anker PowerPort III Nano is a 20W PIQ 3.0 compact fast charger that comes with a 6-foot USB-C to Lightning cable. It’s designed to work specifically with the iPhone and provide a maximum charger to iPhone 12 models and above. The charger is up to three times faster than a 5W charger. In addition to being a fast charger, the Anker Nano is 50% smaller than other 20W iPhone chargers. The charger is MFi-certified and can charge virtually any Lightning compatible device. The PowerPort III Nano comes with a charging cable, welcome guide, and an 18-month warranty.
FEATURES
- Model Number: B2633
- Compatibility: iPhone 12 / 12 mini / 12 Pro / 12 Pro Max / iPhone SE (2nd generation) /11 / 11 Pro / 11 Pro Max / XS / XS Max / XR / X / 8 Plus / 8; iPad mini 5 iPad Air 3，iPad Air 4，iPad 8; AirPods 1/2，AirPods Pro
- Input: 100-240V 0.6A 50-60Hz
- Output: 5V=3A / 9V=2.22A
USER EXPERIENCE
The charger is very small and it easily takes the place of the Apple standard wall charger that used to be packed with iPhones. I normally do a breakdown of the packaging from the product, but since I received this as a part of a larger review kit, I will bypass that description here. The charger does come with its own user manual and a charging cable. Because it’s designed for iPhone use, the cable is a Lightning to USB-C braided cable.
Because this charger is so similar to the original Apple iPhone charger, I looked up the specs on that charger for comparison purposes. Now, the first thing that is different is the wattage. The Apple iPhone charger is only a 5W wall adapter while the Anker charger is a 20W adapter. Both chargers have their outlet prongs permanently extended and both are white in color. I got out one of my older Apple 5W chargers and found that the Anker charger is just about the same size.
Operation of the power adapter is easy enough. You just plug the USB-C end of the charging cable into the power adapter and then the Lighting end into the phone’s Lightning port. When you plug the power adapter into the wall, the phone starts charging automatically. I did get a message on my iPhone that stated I needed to unlock the phone in order to use the USB accessory that was connected, but the charging icon was already illuminated so I didn’t worry about the disclaimer.
To test the charging power of the Anker PowerPort Nano III, I plugged my phone into it and let it charge for 30 minutes. Every ten minutes I took note of the phone’s progress and then at the end of the allotted time, I figured out how much battery life had been gained and divided that by 30 to get the charging rate. After 30 minutes, my phone had gained 33% battery life and I calculated a charging rate of 1.1% per minute for the PowerPort Nano III. While that is already an impressive figure, I think it could have been better because when I was done with the experiment, my phone was at 85% power level, which means the last 5% or so was trickle charging and may not have been as efficient as the rest of the charging session.
CONCLUSION
This is a very handy little charger. It is compact and even though I wish the prongs folded in, it’s a very small device that doesn’t take up much space in a bag. The PowerPort Nano III is an impressive charger and while it’s priced a little higher than the Apple 5W charger (MSRP $19 vs. $29 – at the time of publishing), the Anker charger is a 20W charger and so it makes sense to be a little higher priced.
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