Almost everyone today carries at least one wireless device in their pocket, but the flip-side of wireless freedom is that those internal batteries need daily charging — yet many standard wall chargers and portable power banks simply don’t juice up your gadgets quickly enough when you’re on the move. Enter the super-cheap Anker PowerPort III Nano, a pocket-friendly wall charger that can take your iPhone and other devices from 0% to 50% in as little as 30 minutes — and it’s on sale right now for just $12.
You probably remember the wailing and gnashing of teeth that took place when 3.5mm headphone jacks started disappearing from new smartphones, but fast-forward a few years and it now seems like most of us can’t leave the house without at least carrying our favorite pair of wireless earbuds. It’s not hard to see why people relish in being freed from the tangled tyranny of cables, but not everyone appreciates how advances in battery technology have made that wireless revolution possible in the first place.
Every portable electronic device, from laptop computers to tiny wireless earbuds, utilize some sort of internal battery. That battery needs energy, and while laptops obviously come with AC adapters that draw a lot of power quickly from AC outlets, smaller gadgets like phones typically come with some sort of USB wall charger along with a Mini USB, USB-C, or Lightning charging cable. The problem with these generic chargers is that they don’t typically draw much power or optimize the voltage for each unique device — but the Anker PowerPort III Nano does both of those and more.
At first glance, the PowerPort III Nano looks very similar to generic USB wall chargers that come with most phones. What’s most impressive about this tiny charger is what’s under the hood: The PowerPort III Nano delivers up to 18 watts of power to your mobile devices, making it a perfect match for devices such as the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro that are compatible with 18-watt USB Power Delivery (the standard that Apple now recommends for its newer devices).
The PowerPort III Nano also utilizes Anker’s patented PowerIQ 3.0 technology which optimizes and tailors the flow of power for whichever specific device it’s charging at the moment. The result? Charging times that are roughly 2.5 times faster than standard chargers, meaning no more waiting around for an hour or more when your iPhone, tablet, or other gadget needs a quick pick-me-up. Even if your smartphone doesn’t feature 18-watt USB-PD charging, PowerIQ 3.0 is universally compatible for optimizing the power flow (and thus greatly improving charging times) for virtually anything you’d need to juice up on the go.
You might expect to pay $20 or $30 for a charger like this, but the Anker PowerPort III Nano is incredibly affordable right now after a nice 33% discount knocks it down to a super-cheap $12 from Amazon. For comparison, that’s considerably cheaper than Apple’s own 18-watt charger which would set you back $20.
