Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsHas too many quirks for its price point - worst of all, charging cuts out intermittently
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2024
I really wanted to like this charger, but ultimately it has too many downsides especially given its high price point.
Quirks -
- The biggest issue I have is that the power bank will intermittently cut out while charging in wired mode. I've tested this with multiple cables (including the provided cable) and while charging different devices. It's not frequent enough where it's a dealbreaker, but it's definitely annoying especially considering how pricey this item was.
- Wireless charging is, yes, inefficient. I had hoped that adopting the new Qi2 standard would have helped a bit, but it's still much less inefficient than wired charging. For every percent it can charge my iPhone 15 Pro Max, the charger also drops about one percent. Given the iPhone has 4,441 mAh and the power bank has 10k mAh, this is pretty disappointing.
- The screen shows the exact battery percentage left in the power bank, which is nice. But it also shows an "ETA til fully charged" time estimate that fluctuates wildly to the point where it seems more confusing than helpful. It's especially inaccurate when combined with the 80% battery limit option on the iPhone 15s. I think I would've preferred a wattage input/output indicator instead to monitor progress, or an option to toggle between the two.
- The width of the power bank makes it hard to fit some of the newest iPhones in horizontal "Standby" mode, since the large camera bumps have very little clearance with the power bank. Even with my phone's large size, some of my cases' camera bumps are jutting into the side edge of the power bank, not allowing the phone to sit flush with the Qi2 surface. I must imagine this is even worse for the smaller non-max Pro phone.
- The plastic on the sides scratches extremely easily from fingernails, even when handled carefully.
Overall, pretty disappointing product from Anker, I guess I shouldn't have had high expectations for a first-to-market Qi2 power bank. Way too many downsides to justify its premium price.