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The very best charger for your new iPhone 13

High-speed, compact, safe, and reliable.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor

Now that Apple doesn't ship a charger with the iPhone -- a move Apple claims helps the planet, but I'm sure also helps Apple's bottom line -- it's up to you to grab a charger to do the job.

And I've found the perfect charger.

The tiny Anker Nano Pro.

Note that the version I'm testing is the UK version, featuring the very beefy UK plug prongs.

The Nano Pro ticks all the boxes in what I want from an iPhone charger:

  • It pushes a full 20W of power through the USB-C port, enough to take an iPhone 13 from 0-50% in 25 minutes.
  • It's small, an incredible 45% smaller than Apple's 20W USB-C charger, which means that it's pocketable.
  • It features built-in safety protections in the form of a dynamic temperature sensor to monitor for overheating and a power tuner chip that adjusts power output on the go to safeguard devices.
  • There's a choice for four unique finishes.
  • Very low standby current, so it's consuming very little power when not in use.
  • It comes with Anker's no-quibble 18-month warranty in case things go wrong.
  • It comes at a reasonable price: $19.99.

Anker 20W Nano Pro charger (Anker 511 Charger)

Specs

  • Input: 100-240V~0.6A 50-60Hz
  • Output: 5V/3A/15W and 9V/2.22A/2W
  • Average active efficiency: 85.81%
  • Efficiency at low load (10%): 75.94%
  • No-load power consumption: 0.011W
  • Dimensions: 29.5 × 29.5 × 30 mm / 1.16 × 1.16 × 1.18 in

I've been testing the charger for a couple of weeks now and I'm impressed. It's tiny, and yet it performs exceptionally well. It does get warm in use but regulates itself to prevent unsafe overheating (I tested this by running it when covered by a blanket -- which is not recommended!).

Step by step: Setting up a new iPhone 13

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