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If you care more about convenience than speed, wireless charging is very much the way to go – and a growing number of power banks support it. Just place your smartphone on the integrated wireless pad, and you can recharge without connecting any cables. There will be a hit on charging speeds, so you’ll be limited to 7.5W or 10W, but that’s not a big issue if you don’t need to recharge in a flash. As a bonus, we’re now seeing Magsafe-friendly chargers that will clamp onto an iPhone or a ring inside an iPhone case, meaning you can recharge your iPhone even while you’re using it. How we test power banks The Juice ECO 3 Power Bank now features three output ports, 2 x USB-A and 1 x USB-C and a faster 15W output. Plus being made from 100% recycled plastics means its kinder for the planet. With a power bank, though, you can always get a recharge – even when you’re far from home. In fact, with bigger power banks, you can get away for a weekend or go camping and still keep your phone juiced up. And it’s not only smartphones that can benefit. Tablets, digital cameras and Bluetooth speakers can often do with a top-up, and a decent power bank is a must-have accessory if you love playing on a Nintendo Switch. Step up from the budget power banks to the mighty Juice Powerbank Max and you get a much more capable mobile charger, with a 20,000mAh capacity and a 20W USB PD output over USB-C. We measured the USB-A output at nearly 15W in our tests, which recharged our smartphone by 18% in 15 minutes. With USB-C, that output rose to just over 19W, which was good for a 22% recharge in 15 minutes. That’s not bad at all for an affordable power bank, and we also found it usable for charging tablets and even a Chromebook laptop, albeit at a slower-than-usual speed. Most power banks now use a USB-C port to recharge, although some models will have a micro-USB port as well to ensure compatibility with older chargers. Don’t worry if you don’t have the required cable, as one will usually be provided in the box.
EnergyCell’s portable charger is as basic as power banks get, with just a micro-USB input, a USB-A output and no support for any fast-charging standards. What’s more, it’s slow. The USB-A output is specified as 10W, but in our tests we measured the output at between 7W and 9W depending on the phone. A 15-minute charge only raised the level on our test smartphone by 7%. Finding the right charger capacity: You'll often see a four to five-digit number, with the letters mAh following it, and that's your first big indicator of how much this charger is right for you. If you're constantly refueling your phone and other gadgets, go for at least 10,000mAh. For each extra device you charge, add at least 5,000 to the mAh rating you're looking for. Just need to prevent your device from hitting 0 on late nights out? You'll be good with something in the under 5,000 mAh rating, provided you remember to charge it often. The use of USB-C for the single input/output port is a little weird given the target market, and you’ll need a fast USB-C charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable to make the most of the device. What’s more, the wired charging isn’t super-speedy; our Android test smartphone only recovered by 11% from a 15-minute charge. But if you’re an iPhone user looking for a light and convenient portable charger, the Anker 622 is almost perfect for the role. The best power banks you can buy in 2023 1. EnergyCell Portable Charger 5000mAh: Best cheap power bank One advantage of this shift to USB-C is that power banks now support USB PD for faster charging. This means your power bank will often recharge faster when connected to a suitable fast charger, at anywhere from 20W to 60W. At those speeds, even a high-capacity charger can recharge fully in three to four hours.
Why should you get a MagSafe battery pack?
For a brand we're not that familiar with, this INIU charger stood up in 15-minute and 1-hour timed charging (at 22%, 78%), with times that were within 1-2 percentage points ahead of the PowerCore Slim's times. It only failed to beat the Anker to fill a complete phone once, putting up a 2-hour time, four minutes behind the Anker. Both chargers refilled about 2.2-2.25 iPhone 12s, so it's practically a tie. INIU also has a longer warranty: its 3-year plan is twice as long as Anker's 18-month window. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ The best aspect of the PowerCore 5000 is that it hit 19% after 15 minutes, which is 7% above the Miady power banks. There's nothing particularly wrong with this charger, but nothing impressive either. If you got it as a present, you might hold onto it and get a ton of use out of it. If it goes on sale for a deep discount, we wouldn't be against considering it. But at the end of the day, it's low on our list for a reason. Basically, you’re trying to balance four factors: size, speed, capacity and price. The rules are simple enough: the less you spend, the lower the capacity and the slower the power bank will charge. Compared to the higher-rated 5,000 mAh charger on our list (the Poweradd Slim 2) Anker PowerCore 5000 lags behind on speeds. It only refueled 62% of the iPhone 12 in the first hour of charging, which is the second-lowest score on the list.
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