If you have lost the USB charger for your phone or tablet or if it is damaged, you can always buy the same charger again.
However, even if you keep the original chargers of your devices, you might also consider purchasing a new charger that allows you to charge any device faster or to charge several at a time … or even both. the same time !
Why buy a USB wall charger? Advantages
As we said, if you are happy with your current USB charger, it might not be necessary to buy a new USB charger.
But if you would like to charge multiple devices on a single outlet, or possibly reduce the charging time of your devices , purchasing a new USB charger could be a worthwhile and economical investment.
Nowadays, almost everyone regularly uses more than one device that needs to be recharged with a USB charger (phone, tablet, external battery, portable speakers, ebook, bluetooth headphones… True or False? And a lot of between we need to charge 2 or even 3 of its devices simultaneously.
Most phones and tablets already include a USB charger for purchase, but this is not always the case for other devices such as bluetooth headphones, speaker, smart bracelet or external batteries.
The downside of these chargers included when purchasing the phone is that these are individual chargers, in other words, they cannot charge multiple devices at the same time as they only have one port. USB …
This is where the new chargers with multiple USB ports come in that offer the ability to charge multiple devices simultaneously.
In addition, these multiport chargers are perfect for traveling. For example, if you are traveling with family or friends, instead of carrying a ton of charger for each phone, camera, headphones… you can take a single charger with you that handles everything. Please note that you will still have to bring the Lightning or Micro-USB cables!
It will be used to charge any phone and device with USB charging port. It will therefore not be necessary to take the charger included with the purchase of the smartphone because it will perform the same function and you will have several ports.
On the other hand, despite the fact that every phone or tablet comes with its own USB charger, most of these original chargers do not provide the maximum current supported by the device, so the device will take more than time to load.
To take an example, the iPhone 6 and 6+ include a charger that provides barely 1A of current while these phones can go up to 2.1A and charge much faster.
Let’s discover its advantages together:
Multiple USB ports
Nowadays, almost everyone regularly uses more than one device that needs to be recharged with a USB charger (phone, tablet, external battery, portable speakers, ebook, bluetooth headphones… True or False? And a lot of between we need to charge 2 or even 3 of its devices simultaneously.
Most phones and tablets already include a USB charger for purchase, but this is not always the case for other devices such as bluetooth headphones, speaker, smart bracelet or external batteries.
The downside of these chargers included when purchasing the phone is that these are individual chargers, in other words, they cannot charge multiple devices at the same time as they only have one port. USB …
This is where the new chargers with multiple USB ports come in that offer the ability to charge multiple devices simultaneously.
Space saving
In addition, these multiport chargers are perfect for traveling. For example, if you are traveling with family or friends, instead of carrying a ton of charger for each phone, camera, headphones… you can take a single charger with you that handles everything. Please note that you will still have to bring the Lightning or Micro-USB cables!
Universal charger
It will be used to charge any phone and device with USB charging port. It will therefore not be necessary to take the charger included with the purchase of the smartphone because it will perform the same function and you will have several ports.
Faster charging speed
On the other hand, despite the fact that every phone or tablet comes with its own USB charger, most of these original chargers do not provide the maximum current supported by the device, so the device will take more than time to load.
To take an example, the iPhone 6 and 6+ include a charger that provides barely 1A of current while these phones can go up to 2.1A and charge much faster.
Why do we say fast USB charger?
Before listing the characteristics of a USB charger, we should explain a little the concept of fast charger .
A lot of users say they want a charger that can charge their phone faster. In fact, they are not using the most suitable charger for their device:
The charging time of our devices depends on the charger used as well as the current that it is able to provide. In other words, if your phone supports a charge of up to 2A and you are using a 1A charger, charging will take longer than if you are using one capable of working with this energy demand.
Thanks to this example, we can more easily understand what happens when trying to charge an external battery of 20,000 mAh capacity with a 1A charger:
On the previous image, we can see in the characteristics of the external battery that it has a Micro-USB input port which admits up to 2A. This means that to charge it as quickly as possible (minimum 10 hours), it will be necessary to use a charger capable of supplying this current, such as for example a charger of 2 or 2.4A.
Charging it with a 1A charger would therefore not be ideal if you don’t want to spend all day waiting for a full charge.
Most current chargers have a 2A or 2.4A output, so we recommend always using a minimum 2A charger. It is possible that your device charges with lower current like 0.5 or 1A but don’t worry, you can still use the charger without any problem, it won’t damage your device.
Features to take into account on a USB charger
When purchasing a new charger, the following points should be taken into account, which will be more or less important depending on the desired use:
Number of ports
There are chargers with a USB port and others with up to 6. Ask yourself this question: how many devices will I have to charge and / or how many people will be using this charger?
In general, users who use a charger for their personal use prefer to opt for a 2-3 port. But if you plan to use it in a common place where several people can use it, it is better to orient yourself towards the charger that has the most ports.
Charger power (W)
Many manufacturers indicate the maximum power that the charger is capable of delivering when simultaneously charging multiple devices.
If you plan to use the charger frequently to charge several devices at the same time, it is better to choose a charger with high power.
Each charger port will thus be able to supply the required current demand for each connected device and therefore charge faster.
Chargers with smart charging
Another feature that may be of interest is whether the charger has smart charging. It works as follows:
When we charge several devices at the same time, the charger detects each connected device and supplies it with the maximum current that it allows according to what each port is capable of delivering.
In the image on the left, this is the Ugreen brand charger without smart charging. This charger has 4 USB output ports, one of them (the green one) with Quick charge 3.0 fast charge and the 3 others with a fixed output of 2.4A and 1A: on the charger, each port is marked (5V / 2,4A or 5V / 1A) to be used with the most suitable device.
To take an example, in terms of fast chargers, if you use a 20,000mAh external battery, you will therefore connect it to the 2.4A port in order to obtain a faster charge.
In the image on the right we have a RAVPower charger with 3 ports with smart charging called iSmart and another with Quick Charge 3.0. In this case, you can connect the external battery anywhere as the 3 ports have an output of 5V / 2.4A and will provide the necessary current (up to a maximum of 2.4A) depending on the connected device.
Our recommendation -> always choose a charger with smart charging technology.
Chargers with fast charge and USB C
If phones have Qualcomm fast charging and / or USB Type C , it makes sense that they exist in the charger market with those features… right?
These chargers do exist and many manufacturers have already added one or more ports with Quick Charge and USB type-C to their chargers . Some have even bet directly on chargers with these charging technologies.
For fast charging, this port is indicated by a color (green, orange, blue…) different from the other standard ports.
Although this product is more expensive, we advise you to choose a charger that has at least one port with fast charging and with the latest version, i.e. Quick Charge 3.0 , which will always be compatible with earlier versions.
If your phone works for example with Quick charge 2.0 , by connecting it to the quick charge port QC3.0 of the charger, it will charge your smartphone with QC2.0.
If you don’t have a device compatible with Quick charge, no problem; you can still use this port as a conventional USB port.
Best USB wall chargers (2021)
Now that you know the main features to consider when buying a charger for your devices, we’re going to recommend our favorite models for you for this month.
You will immediately notice that the Aukey brand dominates in this sector, so we wanted to point out their most interesting chargers:
• Ugreen 17W – 2 USB Ports
• RAVPower 24W – 3 USB Ports
• Aukey 43.5W – 3 USB Ports + Quick Charge 3.0
• Aukey 60W – 6 USB Ports + Quick Charge 3.0
• Anker 60W – 5 USB + USB C Ports