Fast chargers are very useful in certain situations. If you’re ready to leave the house but your smartphone or laptop battery is low, a compatible fast charger will be able to add a decent amount of charge in a short period of time. While some device makers bundle a compatible fast charger in the box, others either don’t pack any kind of fast charger or bundle a lower-powered charging brick. Also, it’s becoming a trend not to bundle any kind of charger in the box for smartphones. You can safely blame Apple for that.
So whatever the reason, if you’re in the market for a fast charger that supports USB Power Delivery (USB PD), we can help. In this article, we’ve selected some of the best USB PD Fast Chargers on the market. You can pick one that matches the supported wattage in your budget.
Navigate this article:
- What is USB PD?
- How to choose the right charger?
- Best USB PD fast chargers with a single port
- Best USB PD fast chargers with two ports
- Best multi-port USB-PD fast chargers
What is USB PD?
USB PD (Power Delivery) is a specification used by manufacturers to deliver increased power over USB to their devices. It works with USB Battery Charging implementations to provide a robust fast charging solution. USB PD was originally introduced back in 2012 and has since been revised multiple times. The latest revision — USB Power Delivery Specification Revision 3.1 — was announced in May 2021, and it supports delivering up to 240W of power over USB Type-C. The USB PD 3.1 chargers are already here and we’ve added a few of them to this collection below.
In terms of cross-compatibility, Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 4.0, 4+, and 5 are compatible with the USB PD specification. Similarly, Huawei and Samsung’s fast charging standards also work with USB PD. So if you have a device with QuickCharge 4 or Huawei SuperCharge support, it can be charged faster with USB PD chargers as well. Notably, some of Samsung’s devices use Programmable Power Supply (PPS), so unless your USB PD charger also supports PPS, you won’t get the top charging speed. Your device will still charge faster than normal though.
If you want to know more about various fast-charging standards and fast charging in general, make sure to read our detailed explainer on fast charging.
How to choose the right charger?
Choosing the right charger for your smartphone or laptop can be a struggle due to the presence of various charging protocols, power requirements, and more. Let’s take a quick look at some of the most important things you need to consider while picking the right charger for your device:
- Supported charging protocol: This is an important factor to consider mainly because not all smartphones and laptops support the universal charging protocol such as USB Power Delivery. OnePlus smartphones, for instance, uses OnePlus’ proprietary Warp charge tech, thereby forcing you to opt out of third-party options. So, figure out what charging protocol your smartphone supports. Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones, and Google Pixels all support USB Power Delivery, albeit at lower wattages only.
- Power requirement of your device: The next step is to make sure how much your device needs in watts (W). Apple’s new iPhone 14 Pro Max requires 27W, so you’ll need a charger that supports at least 27W or higher to charge this phone at its maximum supported speed. Typically, most smartphones vary between 18-80W, whereas laptops can easily go up to 140W.
- Chargers with multiple USB ports: You may come across a lot of chargers with multiple USB-C or USB-A ports. While these are great for charging multiple devices, they may not provide the fastest speeds when all ports are used simultaneously due to power sharing. So it’s important to understand how much power a particular charger can deliver through each of its ports individually and simultaneously, and figure if you need all ports to be working at maximum speed all through the day. For instance, a port usually reserved for charging a smartwatch or earbuds will only be active for a couple of hours in a day, allowing you to get away with a lower-powered multi-port charger.
- GaN chargers: Simply put, Gallium Nitride a.k.a GaN chargers are physically smaller in size and are efficient at transferring current as they lose less energy to heat. The pricing for them is a bit on the higher side as the technology is fairly new. We recommend picking up GaN chargers over others if your budget allows for it.
With all these factors in mind, a typical purchase decision will count the number of devices you need to simultaneously charge and how quick you need the charger to be. For example, if you have a Macbook Air and an iPhone charging for most parts of the day, you can get away with a 65W USB Power Delivery charger with two ports. But if you have a more power-hungry laptop and more devices to charge simultaneously, you may need to look at 100W multi-port chargers. If you just have an iPhone to charge, you can get by with a single-port 18W or 30W charger, depending on how recent your phone is.
Best USB PD fast chargers with a single port
If you only have one device to charge, then you should consider buying a charger with a single USB-C port. These chargers tend to be the most portable and affordable ones on the market.
- This simple USB-C charger from UGREEN is one of the most affordable USB-PD chargers you'll find in this collection. This particular charger supports a number of charging protocols including PD 3.0, QC 4.0, PPS, BC1.2, etc., so it works well with phones that need 20W of power or less. This 20W charger isn't as compact as some other premium GaN chargers out there, but it's thinner than a lot of other bulky wall adapters out there.
- The Anker 511 Nano 3 charger is perfect for those who want a simple charger with a single USB Type-C port. This compact GaN charger, as you can see, is smaller than a lot of other 30W chargers out there. It also comes with foldable prongs that make it easier to carry around. It is available to purchase in a bunch of different colors, but you'll have to buy a cable separately as you don't get one with the charger itself.
- The Nekteck 60W is one of the fastest single-port USB-PD chargers you can buy on the market right now. It uses Gallium Nitrate (GaN) instead of Silicon for a compact design and cooler performance. One of the best things about this particular USB-PD charger is that it comes with a 2-meter USB Type-C cable in the box. It also has an LED light at the bottom of the USB-C port to indicate the charging status of the connected device.
Best USB PD fast chargers with two ports
The USB PD chargers mentioned in this section have two USB ports, so they’re perfect for those who want to charge more than one device simultaneously.
- This Baseus Dual port charger, as the name implies, comes with two USB ports with which you can charge two devices simultaneously. If you're charging two devices simultaneously, then you can get up to 18W power from USB-C port and up to 12W power from the USB-A port. This particular charger is available to purchase in two colors and it also comes with a foldable plug that makes it easier to carry around.
- The Spigen ArcStation 40W charger, as you can see, comes with two USB Type-C ports. You can get up to 30W of power when only one of the two ports is in use for charging. You can also use both ports to charge two devices simultaneously, but you'll only get 20W power in each port in that case. The ArcStation 40W charger also uses GaN tech, so it's compact and is more reliable with its power delivery.
- This Amazon Basics USB-PD charger may not be the most portable option out there on the market, but it can deliver the fastest speeds out of the bunch in this section. You can get up to 60W charging speeds while using a single port, meaning you can even use it to charge laptops with PD support. It's only available in one color and you don't get a charging cable with it, so keep that in mind.
Best multi-port USB-PD fast chargers
We recommend picking up a multi-port USB-PD charger if you want to charge more than two devices simultaneously. We’ve included
- The Baseus 100W 4-Port GaN II Charging Station comes with four ports - two Type-C and two Type-A. This particular charger can deliver up to 100W of power when you're only using a single port. But if you want to use all ports simultaneously to charge multiple devices, then it uses BPS II (Baseus Power Split) tech to intelligently allocate power for all devices. Unlike a lot of other chargers out there, this one comes with a 100W USB-C to USB-C cable.
- The Ugreen four-port PD charger is an excellent option if you want to charge more than two devices. It has three Type-C ports, all of which are USB PD-compatible, and one Type-A port. As for the charging speeds, you can get a maximum of 100W power while using a single port, and up to 45W power while using all the ports simultaneously. This compact charger also uses GaN tech for reliable power output.
- We're wrapping up the list with the UGREEN Nexode charger which is the only USB PD 3.1 charger in this collection. The USB-PD 3.1 chargers are still relatively new to the market and they tend to be on the expensive side. You can get up to 140W of power via one of the USB-C ports, so it's even capable of charging powerful and demanding machines like the new MacBook Pro 16 with M1 Pro or M1 Max chip.
These are the best USB PD fast chargers you can buy on the market right now. As you can see, there are a number of options with different wattages and port selections. You can choose one depending on your requirements. We’ll continue to update this post with newer and better options in the future, so be sure to explore those options too.
Still confused? Choose this charger
If you just need a simple charger for your phone, the Anker 511 charger is a good option to consider. Those wanting to charge more than one device can buy the Baseus 30W dual port or the Spigen Arcstation Pro charger. More advanced users with multi-devices, on the other hand, can go with the Baseus fast charging station.
So which USB PD charger are you planning to get? Let us know in the comments section. Also, check out our recommendations on the Best USB Cables to go along with your new charger.
The post These are the best USB PD fast chargers for phones and laptops in 2022 appeared first on XDA.
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