Why This Anker Universal Charger Is the Only Power Accessory I Pack for Travel

I never realized the importance of having a universal charger until I traveled to Berlin a few months ago. It was a last-minute work trip, so I packed lightly, stashed my go-to portable charger — with its flip-out plug — and flew out not knowing what struggles lay ahead.

I had it all mapped out. I’d top up my phone, laptop, earbuds and cameras at the hotel each night, go out for a döner and be ready to tackle all my work the next day. But my lack of an international plug adapter — specifically, US to EU — meant that I’d have to deal with a series of physical, technical and safety obstacles first.

Had I discovered the Anker Universal Charger sooner, I wouldn’t have gone through the ordeal of finding an electronics store open late on a Sunday. That’s because the latest product from the mobile accessory brand takes a kitchen sink approach to charging — whether you need its more excessive features or not.

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I’ve been testing the $80 Anker Universal Charger, both for general use in the States and abroad, and it’s more practical than I thought. Here’s why it’ll stay in my bag going into the holiday travel season.

It has almost every plug you need… almost

The Anker Universal Charger is two things: an international plug adapter and a multiport charger. It has slide-out Type A, Type C and Type G prongs that lock each other whenever one is active. That covers most countries in the world, including the US, Canada, Japan, China, Europe and the UK. Notably, the charger doesn’t have a Type I prong (commonly used in Australia and New Zealand), so it’s not completely universal.

The charger can output up to 100W, either individually through one of the two USB-C ports (labeled USB-C1 and USB-C2) or shared across the third USB-C port, which caps at 15W, and the one USB-A port, which caps at 10W. So if you want the most optimal charging, stick with only one of the main USB-C ports.

In practice, the Anker is powerful enough to charge a modern-day iPhone or Android, smartwatch or laptop. My 14-inch MacBook Pro, for example, supports 100-watt charging, so the Anker is just enough to fast-charge it. It took 33 minutes to charge my MacBook from 0% to 50%, and about 50 more minutes to reach 100% as trickle charging kicked in.

The Anker wouldn’t be able to hit the 140-watt rating of a 16-inch MacBook Pro or a similarly specced laptop, though. I also noticed the charger would throttle its output — as shown on its smart display — after prolonged use at 100 watts. That meant when I charged devices back-to-back, the second device charged much more slowly because of the reduced output.

Generally speaking, make sure you’re using a proper, high-quality charging cable with the adapter, as Anker doesn’t include one in the box.

Do you need a display on your charger?

One of the key features of the new Anker Universal Charger is the 1.3-inch smart display on the front. It’s there to show live line voltage, internal thermal readings and real-time wattage draw per port, so you know exactly how effectively it’s charging your device(s).

You navigate the display with short and long taps on the capacitive button below it, which I’ve found less intuitive than just swiping on the display, but at least it reduces fingerprint smudges.

That said, I’ve still found the smart display quite useful, as I don’t have to second-guess whether the cable I’m using or the outlet I’m plugging into can charge my phone or laptop efficiently. There’s nothing worse than plugging a device in, only to come back to it barely charged because the wattage wasn’t as high as you expected.

I’m particularly fond of how the display indicates when an outlet is safe to charge, as it can detect the output (so long as it’s within 100-275V) and signal when there’s excess electrical pressure in the circuit. 

This is important when you’re traveling abroad and/or plugging into a high-voltage outlet; if you’re using a charger that’s not rated for the higher capacity, you risk sparking and other dangerous thermal reactions.

Compact for travel, but with one trade-off

The Anker Universal Charger is relatively compact for how much power it delivers. In the past, I’ve lugged around larger charging bricks — such as Apple’s proprietary one for MacBooks — that had fewer ports. 

For reference, the Anker is about the size of a small computer mouse; it’s tiny enough to fit in a backpack pocket, with just enough weight (262 grams) to keep it from shifting when plugged into an outlet. Yet, I wouldn’t say this is a lightweight charger by any means, especially when compared to a conventional plug adapter.

The Anker Universal Charger is fairly priced at $80, though it’s still more expensive than generic international adapters that sell for around $20 to $50. Those don’t have a cool smart display, though.

While the price keeps the Anker out of “impulse purchase” territory, I’ve found it easier to justify than most other high-end chargers, given its functionality and safety features.