The best power banks and portable chargers for every device in 2025

There are six power banks on my desk right now. On the shelves behind me are a dozen (two dozen?) more. Over the past three years, I’ve tested more than 55 portable battery packs for Engadget — and can attest these handy devices are only getting better. If you often forget to charge your phone or find yourself traveling for work or leisure, having one of these in your bag can be a lifeline. Here you’ll find banks ranging from Qi2-enabled slabs for wireless phone refills to larger bricks that can save a dying laptop. Here are the best power banks you can buy, according to our tests.

Best power banks for 2025

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Anker’s MagGo Power Bank was one of the first Qi2-certified products to come on the market, and the new standard has made the brand’s popular MagSafe/kickstand model much faster. It’s the most well-rounded best MagSafe battery I’ve tested, but if you’re looking for other options, we have an entire MagSafe power bank guide to peruse.

It brought an iPhone 15 from near-dead to half-full in about 45 minutes. For reference, it took our former top pick in this category an hour and a half to do the same. It’s similarly faster than Anker’s previous generation of this model, the 633, as well. After that initial refill, the MagGo 10K had enough left over to get the phone up to 70 percent on a subsequent charge.

In addition to faster charging speeds, this Anker power bank adds a LCD display to indicate the battery percentage left in the bank, plus the approximate amount of time before it’s full (when it’s refilling) or empty (when it’s doing the charging). A strong MagSafe connection makes it easy to use the phone while it charges and the small kickstand creates a surprisingly sturdy base for watching videos and the like. If you twist the phone to landscape, StandBy mode kicks in.

The power bank did a fine job of charging our Galaxy S23 Ultra — though that model doesn’t have Qi2 support. New , so those handsets will charge at a faster rate with this battery — and benefit from zero-effort magnetic alignment. The MagGo also has a USB-C port, so if you need to fill up something without wireless capabilities, you can.

Pros

Qi2 tech enables extra fast wireless charging
Sturdy kickstand props up iPhones as it charges
LED display for battery percentage

Cons

More expensive than other MagSafe packs

$90 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

The Anker Nano power bank is impressive for how much charge it delivers in such a small package. It’s the exact size and shape of the lipstick case my grandma used to carry and has a built-in USB-C connector that folds down when you’re not using it. That means that, in addition to being ultra-portable, you don’t need to remember to grab a charging cable when you toss it in your bag. There’s also a built-in USB-C port that can refill the battery or be used to fill up a different device with an adapter cable. Four indicator lights let you know how much charge remains in the battery.

In my testing, the 5,000mAh battery provided enough charge to get a depleted Galaxy S23 Ultra back up to 65 percent in about an hour. That’s relatively quick, but the Nano is also small enough that, with its sturdy connection, you can use your phone while it’s charging without feeling too awkward. The charger’s small size also makes it a good pick for recharging earbuds.

For a little more juice and an equally clever design, Anker’s 30W Nano Power Bank is a good option for delivering a single charge. It’s bigger in size and capacity (10,000mAh) and includes a display indicating the remaining charge percentage. The built-in USB-C cable doubles as a carry handle, which is a nice touch. That cable is in/out and there’s another USB-C in-out port in addition to an out-only USB-A port.

Cons

Small enough to get misplaced

$24 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Capacity: 10,000mAh | Maximum Output: 30W | Ports: One USB-C in/out port, one USB-C in/out cable, wall prongs | Cable: Built-in USB-C | Number of charges iPhone 15: 1.86 | Charge time iPhone: 5 to 100% 1h 53m and 5 to 91% 1h 5m | Number of charges Galaxy S23 Ultra: 1.45 | Charge time Galaxy: 5 to 100% 1h 2m, 5% to 50% 23m

The toughest thing about using a power bank is remembering to bring it along. You also have to remember a cable and, if you want to refill the bank itself, a wall adapter. Anker’s 10K Fusion solves two of those problems with its attached USB-C cable for your device and foldable two-prong plug for charging the bank itself (yes, you still have to remember to bring the thing with you).

Despite the attachments, it’s compact, just a smidge wider than a stick of butter, yet still packs a 10,000 mAh capacity. The 30 watts of power enabled the “Super Fast Charging” message on a Galaxy S23 android phone and got it from five percent to full in just over an hour. In just 20 minutes, the 10K Fusion bumped a near-dead iPhone 15 to 45 percent. Though it slowed down towards the end of the Apple handset’s charge.

There’s an additional USB-C port for charging devices that may require a different cable and both it and the built-in connector can be used to refill the power bank. The cable makes a neat loop that looks a lot like a handle. Even though I’m wary of carrying a device around by its cord, it felt sturdy enough.

The onboard display indicates the Fusion’s remaining charge in terms of a percentage and was one of the more accurate readouts I’ve tested. I also like the corduroy texture along the sides — very fidget-worthy.

Our previous pick in this low-capacity category, the BioLite Charge 40 PD, is still an excellent choice — it’s durable, delivers a quick charge and looks cool. I use it often myself. Plus BioLite has an admirable mission of bringing energy to places where it’s otherwise scarce. But Anker’s new release, the 10K Fusion simply delivers a faster charge and more features at a lower price.

Pros

Has a built-in USB-C cable
Also has built-in wall prongs
Display is fairly accurate
Affordable

Cons

iPhone charging is slower than other banks in its range

$45 at Amazon

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

An integrated cable seems to be the hot new feature in portable chargers — and I’m all for it. I can remember times when I’ve had a dead phone and power bank, but no way to connect the two. The Belkin Boost Charge 20K with Integrated Cable is the latest such bank I’ve tested and also one of the more affordable examples.

It can output a maximum of 30 watts, which doesn’t make it the fastest charger around, but it wasn’t a slouch. It charged a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra from near-dead to full in an hour and 15 minutes and bumped an iPhone 15 from five to 87 percent in just over an hour. And the 20,000mAh capacity means it can achieve those numbers around three times over.

In addition to the built-in (and conveniently magnetized) USB-C cable, there are two other ports: an out-only USB-A and an in/out Type C. That means you can technically charge three devices at the same time, but just note that the amount of charge and the time it takes for things to refill will both take a hit.

There’s no digital screen to tell you how much charge remains in the battery, just four indicator LEDs. I’ve certainly found display readouts to be helpful in determining just how much more juice I can squeeze out of a battery, but the lighted pips here are accurate and still useful.

While color options probably won’t make or break your battery pack purchase, I appreciate that the BoostCharge 20K comes in something other than standard black. You can of course get it in that shade, but also in blue, pink or white. The pink of my tester unit was pale and pretty and the matte finish does a good job of staying clean — some black smudges from who-knows-what in my bag came off easily with some rubbing alcohol.

Pros

Built-in USB-C cable is handy
Comes in four color options
Affordable
Great capacity for the price

Cons

Charge isn’t as fast as other banks

$50 at Belkin

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Nimble’s Champ Pro battery delivers a screaming fast charge and got a Galaxy S23 Ultra from five percent to full in under an hour. That’s faster than every other battery I tested except for Anker’s Laptop Power Bank, our premium pick — and that model costs $30 more. It lent nearly three full charges to both an iPhone and Galaxy device and has enough juice to refill an iPad more than once. The battery pack itself also re-ups from the wall noticeably faster than other models, so it’ll get you out the door quicker.

The company, Nimble, is a certified B-Corp, meaning they aim for higher environmental and social standards and verify their efforts through independent testing. The Champ Pro uses 90 percent post-consumer plastic and comes in packaging made from paper scrap with a bag for shipping back your old battery (or other tech) for recycling.

The unit itself feels sturdy and has a compact shape that’s a little narrower than a smartphone and about as long. The attached adjustable lanyard is cute, if a little superfluous, and the marbled effect from the recycled plastics give it a nice aesthetic. You can charge devices from both USB-C ports simultaneously, and both are input/output plugs.

My only qualm was with the four indicator lights. On a second testing round, it dropped down to just one remaining pip, yet went on to deliver a full fill-up plus an additional top off after that. That said, I’m glad the indicator lights under-estimated the remaining charge rather than the other way around, and the accuracy seemed to improve after subsequent depletions and refills.

Pros

Super fast charging
Made from recycled materials
Sturdy and compact design

Cons

Indicator lights underestimate charge

$100 at Nimble

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

Capacity: 27,000mAh | Maximum Output: 85W | Ports: One in/out USB-C, two out only USB-A, three wireless pads | Cable: USB-C to USB-C | Number of charges iPhone 15: 5.67 | Charge time iPhone: 5 to 100% in 2h 22m average and 5 to 68% in 35m | Number of charges Galaxy S23 Ultra: 4.46 | Charge time Galaxy: 5 to 100% in 1h 21m average 5 to 46% in 25m | Number of charges iPad Air: 2.78 | Charge time iPad: 5 to 100% in 1h 55m average and 5 to 78% in 1h 11m | Number of charges MacBook Pro: 0.79 | Charge time MacBook Pro: 10-89% 1h 18m

Power banks that can charge a laptop are a category unto themselves. I recently put together a guide to those high-capacity portable chargers and Lion Energy’s Eclipse Mag made the cut as the best option for traveling with your laptop — but it’s also great for smaller devices.

The selling point here is supposed to be the three wireless charging pads on its topside, but I found its wired performance to be even more impressive. The 27,000mAh battery translates to about 100 watt hours, aka the TSA’s largest approved capacity for travel. It’s more compact than other 27K batteries, though at two pounds and 8.5 inches long, it’s hardly small. The soft-touch plastic on the exterior is thicker at the angled-off corners, which makes it feel like it could handle a tumble — Lion Energy doesn’t list any sort of mil spec or other ratings for drop endurance so I didn’t subject the tester unit to any rough handling.

Measuring the recharge time of the batteries from the wall isn’t one of the metrics I usually test, but Lion Energy claims a 90 minute refill and my experience lines up with that. It refilled our iPhone 15 five and a half times and the Galaxy S23 Ultra nearly five times. It revived a 16-inch MacBook Pro from 10 percent to 89 percent while it was in use. That works out to about 14 percentage points more than our current command center battery recommendation.

The previous pick in this category, Anker’s 737, charged up a Galaxy S22 Ultra slightly faster than the Eclipse Mag refilled a Galaxy S23 Ultra (which have the same battery capacity) but the Eclipse had more charge to give every device.

A double-press of the status button enables wireless charging and more than one device can be charged at once. It also supports pass-through charging, so you can have the battery charging from the wall as you charge your device.

Magnets align with an iPhone’s MagSafe circle to position the phone quickly. Finding the sweet spot for the Galaxy phone takes a little adjustment, but was easy enough. It took nearly three hours to fully charge the iPhone 15 from five to 100 percent, but getting it to 87 percent only took two hours. With any portable battery, the charge rate slows significantly as the device approaches 100 percent — and that’s even more noticeable with a wireless portable charger.

Lion Energy told me the Eclipse Mag is designed for Apple Watches only. Not surprising given the Pixel Watch 4 uses a special puck and Samsung recommends you only use its chargers to refill a Galaxy Watch. My Apple Watch snapped into place easily and started charging right away (after I remembered to double press the button to fire up the wireless pads). There’s also a pad for wirelessly recharging your AirPods.

At $149, it’s relatively affordable for a lot of power, particularly given the wireless charging feature. I wish it had more than one USB-C port, but I suppose the wireless pads make up for the lack. Overall, it’s a solid choice for long trips or for working away from an outlet for a day or two.

Pros

Massive 27,000mAh capacity
Quick charge wired charging times
Wireless charging works well for a portable battery

Cons

Large and heavy
Just one USB-C port

$149 at Lion Energy

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

The TSA’s 100-watt-hour battery limit translates to around 27,000mAh for lithium batteries. Mophie’s Powerstation Pro AC is so massive it necessitates a grab handle and get close to the edge of that max carry-on size. You probably won’t find a larger, acceptable portable power bank — after all, an on-the-go charging brick is pointless if you can’t travel with it. I took this one through security at two airports and no one gave it a second glance.

To power your laptop and the rest of your mobile work setup, the Powerstation has four ports. Three of them are the usual USBs, but there’s also a three-prong AC outlet. Most current devices charge via USB (and doing so is more efficient than using a power adapter between the cable and power bank), but older devices and certain mobile workstation accessories — speakers, lights and printers come to mind — might only power up through a basic wall plug. Just be sure to hold down the status button until the light turns red to turn on the AC port.

The AC plug powered most small appliances I plugged into it, including a small speaker, an HP printer and various LED lights. The 100 available watts isn’t enough to continuously push a charge through the 140W power adapter that ships with the 16-inch MacBook Pro, but via the USB-C port, it was able to charge that laptop from 10 percent to 75 percent in under 90 minutes.

The four lighted LED indicators will tell you when the battery is full. Unfortunately, it’s not the best indicator of when the bank will run out of juice. It charges for quite a while with four and three pips lit up, but then quickly cycles through the last two dots before it dies. So it might be better to just remember how much you’ve used the brick rather than relying too heavily on its indicators.

Smaller devices like a smartphone will get numerous charges; I got nearly five refills on an iPhone 11, and two charges and some change on an iPad. The Powerstation Pro AC was even a little faster at both tasks than our previous pick for a mobile command center. That said, this bank is overkill for a simple mobile device fill-up. At 2.6 pounds, it makes the most sense as a power source when you’re working in the field with multiple components.

Pros

Massive capacity
Unique AC outlet

$200 at Mophie

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

The only thing worse than needing a power bank and not having one is having one but no way to connect it to your device. The Anker laptop power bank with built-in cable forgoes any clever naming scheme, but makes sure you’re never left without a way to charge your stuff. It has two attached USB-C cables: one attached to the side of the battery that acts as a carrying cable and another retractable cord that extends up to two feet. Both handle in/out functions so you can use them to refill a device or reup the battery itself.

The display tells you the amount of charge remaining in the battery pack as well as the output wattage that’s funnelling towards your devices from each port. When refilling the battery, you can see an estimate of how long it will be until the unit is full. Calculating and displaying info like that takes up a bit of power but, in my testing, the unit outputs the same or a higher amount of charge compared with other 25,000 mAh batteries.

It’s an attractive bank, with matte silver exterior and a smaller display area than Anker’s Prime bank (our previous pick for this category). One of my concerns with that battery was the huge display area which was easily scratched. This newer unit feels more durable.

This 25,000 mAh model is a great alternative to the 27.5K Prime model, delivering slightly less charge but selling for $80 less as well. It’s also a better deal than Anker’s popular Powercore bank, which is the same price as the laptop bank but doesn’t have built-in cables.

Pros

Two built-in USB-C cables so you’re never without a cord
Durable build
Display shows detailed charging information
Delivers a fast charge

$120 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Plenty of battery packs are built to withstand drops and other abuse, but very few are waterproof or even water resistance. It makes sense; water and electrical charges aren’t good companions. The Nestout Portable Charger battery has an IP67 rating, which means it can handle being submerged in water for a number of minutes, and Nestout claims a 30-minute dunk in a meter of water shouldn’t interfere with the battery’s operation. I couldn’t think of a likely scenario where a power bank would spend a half hour in three feet of water, but I could see a backpacker traversing a river and submerging their pack for a few minutes, or a sudden downpour drenching all of their gear. So I tested by dropping the battery in a five gallon bucket of water for five minutes. After drying it off, the unit performed as if it had never been wet.

The water resistance comes courtesy of screw-on caps with silicone gaskets that physically keep the water out, so you’ll need to make sure you tighten (but don’t over tighten) the caps whenever you think wetness is in your future. The company also claims the battery lives up to a military-standard shock/drop specification which sounds impressive, but it’s hard to pin down what exactly that means. I figured it should at minimum survive repeated drops from chest height onto a hard surface, and it did.

As for charging speeds, it wasn’t quite as quick as our recommendation for a mid-capacity bank. The Belkin charged an iPhone 15 to 80 percent in under an hour and the Nestout got the smaller iPhone 11 to 80 percent in a little more than that. Another thing to note is that the supplied cable is short, just seven inches total, so you’ll likely want to use your own cord.

Nestout also makes accessories for its batteries, which I found delightful. A dimmable LED worklight snaps on to the top of the battery while a small tripod holds them both up. The portable solar panel reminded me of a baby version of Biolite’s camping panels. Nestout’s version refilled the 15,000mAh bank to 40 percent in under three hours, which sounds slow, but is actually fairly impressive considering the compact size of the panels. This is also a blazingly hot summer, so I’d expect better performance in more reasonable weather.

Pros

Waterproof with the caps secured
Clever accessories (sold separately)
Survived drop tests

Cons

Not the fastest charge times
Included cable is short

$67 at Amazon

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

Travelers — both international and domestic — will likely appreciate the clever design of the InfinaCore P3 Pro. It’s a compact square in the shape of a coaster and a little over an inch thick. There’s a Qi2 wireless charging pad on one side as well as a built-in, two-prong wall adapter at the edge. Those prongs fold down, not only to make it easier to pack the brick, but also to allow for three (included) international adapters to slide over the plug. That makes it ready for travel to countries with type G (UK, Saudi Arabia), type C (Europe) and type I (Australia, China) plugs.

The built-in plug lets the P3 Pro act as both a portable charger and a wall adapter. Because the brick is rather large, I worried it would fall out of the wall, but the standard prongs stayed firmly attached to my outlets at home (I, sadly, haven’t gone on any international trips, so I couldn’t test the adapters.) There are also two USB-C ports on the side, one for fast charging from the battery and one for in/out power transfers. There’s also a USB-A slot and a (very) small carry strap.

The display shows the remaining charge as well as the amount of charge currently being output. It has a 10,500mAh capacity, which filled an iPhone 15 once with about 25 percent left over. After filling a Galaxy S24 Ultra, the battery had about 33 percent remaining. That’s a little less charge than I would have expected for the listed capacity (most 10K banks I’ve tested deliver more). It’s also a touch slow in filling an iPhone, taking over three hours to fill one wirelessly, and nearly two hours to fill it with a cable. The speed on the Galaxy refill was better, clocking in at a little over an hour to go from four percent to full.

At the list price of $200, the P3 Pro really only makes sense for an international traveler who wants a wall adapter, wireless charger and power bank in one. But if you can find it on sale, grab it. It’s a clever design that works decently and comes with a 99-year warranty.

$70 at Amazon

What to look for in a portable battery pack

Battery type

Nearly every rechargeable power bank you can buy (and most portable devices) contain a lithium-ion battery. These beat other current battery types in terms of size-to-charge capacity, and have even increased in energy density by eight fold in the past 14 years. They also don’t suffer from a memory effect (where a battery’s lifespan deteriorates due to partial charges).

Flying with portable batteries

You may have heard about lithium ion batteries overheating and catching fire — a recent Hong Kong flight was grounded after just such a thing happened in an overhead bin. Current restrictions implemented by the TSA still allow external batteries rated at 100Wh or less (which all of our recommendations are) to fly with you, but only in your carry-on luggage — they can’t be checked.

Recently, Southwest Airlines was the first in the industry to take that rule one step further. Now, flyers on that airline must keep power banks in clear view when using them to recharge a device. If the portable charger isn’t actively in use, however, it can stay in your carry-on bag in the overhead bin.

Capacity

Power bank manufacturers almost always list a battery’s capacity in milliamp hours, or mAh. Smaller batteries with a 5,000mAh capacity make good phone chargers and can fill a smartphone to between 50 and 75 percent. Larger batteries that can recharge laptops and tablets, or give phones multiple charges, can exceed 25,000mAh and we have a separate guide that covers that entire category.

Unsurprisingly, the prices on most batteries goes up as mAh capacity increases, and since batteries are physical storage units, size and weight go up with capacity as well. If you want more power, be prepared to spend more and carry around a heavier brick.

You might think that a 10,000mAh power bank could charge a 5,000mAh phone to 100 percent twice, but that’s not the case. In addition to simple energy loss through heat dissipation, factors like voltage conversion also bring down the amount of juice that makes it into your phone. Most manufacturers list how many charges a battery can give a certain smartphone. In our tests, 10,000mAh of battery pack capacity translated to roughly 5,800mAh of device charge. 20,000mAh chargers delivered around 11,250mAh to a device, and 25,000mAh banks translated to about 16,200mAh of charge. That’s an average efficiency rate of around 60 percent.

Wireless

Wireless charging, whether through a bank or a plugged-in charging pad, is less efficient than wired connections. But it is convenient — and in most cases, you can carry around and use your phone as it refills with a magnetically attached power bank.

Power banks with wireless charging are far better than they once were. Just a couple years ago, the ones I tested were too inefficient to recommend in this guide. When batteries adhering to the Qi2 wireless charging standard started arriving in 2023, performance markedly improved.

To gain Qi2-certification, a device has to support speeds of up to 15 watts and include magnetic attachment points. The MagSafe technology on iPhones were once the only handsets that were Qi2-compatible, but now Google’s Pixelsnap tech brings both the higher speed and magnetic grip to Pixel 10 phones. Samsung may follow up with its own version in future releases.

The latest wireless charging standard, Q12 25W, is supported by the new iPhone 17 phones as well as the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Battery packs that are Qi2 25W-enabled are starting to hit the market as well, and the Ugreen MagFlow was the first on the scene.

Ports

USB-C ports can deliver faster charges than USB-A ports, and most of the portable chargers we recommend here have Type-C connections. But Type-A jacks are still handy if you need to use a specialized cable for a certain device (my camera’s USB-A to micro USB cable comes to mind).

There’s also variation among USB-C ports. Larger banks with more than one port will sometimes list different wattages for each. For example, a bank with three ports may have two 65W ports and one 100W port. There will also be at least one in/out port on the bank, which can be used to charge the battery itself or to deliver a charge to your device. Wattages and in/out labels are printed right next to the port — and always in the tiniest font possible (remember, your phone is an excellent magnifying glass if you ever have trouble reading them).

As with standard wall chargers, the port’s wattage will determine what you can charge. A phone will happily charge off a 100W connection, but a 15W plug won’t do much for your laptop. And remember, the cable has to match the maximum wattage. A cable rated for 60W won’t deliver 100W speeds.

Luckily, some of the best power banks include a built-in USB-C cable. That’ll not only ensure you have the right cord, it’s one less thing you have to remember to bring along.

Design

Once, most rechargeable batteries were black with a squared-off, brick-like design, but now they come in different colors and shapes with attractive finishes and detailing. While that doesn’t affect how they perform, it’s a consideration for something you’ll interact with regularly. Some portable power banks include extra features like MagSafe compatibility, a built-in wall plug or even a kickstand. Nearly all have some sort of indicator to let you know how much available charge your power bank has left, usually expressed with lighted pips near the power button. Some of the newer banks take that a step further with an LED display indicating remaining battery percentage.

How we test best power banks

Before I even put my hands on a battery pack, I did extensive research. I considered brands Engadget reviewers and staff have tried over the years and checked out customer ratings on retail sites like Amazon and Best Buy. Then, I acquire the most promising candidates and test them in my home office.

an assortment of power banks sit on a wooden table — Amy Skorheim for Engadget

Here’s the full list of power banks we’ve tested, which range from small wireless banks to large, multi-device batteries:

MagSafe-compatible

Apple MagSafe Battery Pack (5,000 mAh)
Spigen ArcHybrid Mag (5,000mAh)
Anker 521 Magnetic Battery (5,000 mAh)
Mophie snap+ PowerstationMmini (5,000mAh)
Baseus Magnetic (10,000mAh)
Anker MagGo Power Bank (6.6K) (6,600 mAh)
Anker 633 Magnetic Battery (10,000mAh)
Anker MagGo Power Bank (10K) (10,000 mAh)
UGREEN 10,000mAh Magnetic (10,000mAh)
EcoFlow Rapid Magnetic (5,000mAh)

Low capacity (≤10,000mAh)

Mid capacity (10,001 – 20,000mAh)

High capacity (20,001mAh+)

Mophie Powerstation Pro XL (25,000mAh)
UGREEN Power Bank 25,000mAh 145W (25,000mAh)
Anker 737 Power Bank (25,600 mAh)
Zendure Supertank Pro (26,800mAh)
Mophie Powerstation Pro AC (27,000mAh)
Lion Energy Eclipse Mag (27,000mAh)
Lion Energy Trek (27,000mAh)
HyperJuice 245W (27,000mAh)
Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank (27,650mAh)
Anker laptop power bank with built-in cable (25,000mAh)
Belkin Boost Charge 20K with built-in cable (20,000mAh)

We’re continuously updating this guide as companies release new products and we test them. We remove some products as we find picks that are more worthy of the best portable charger designation. We also add updated specs and prices where necessary.

For testing, I used each battery with some combination of an iPhone 16, iPhone 15, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 11, a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, a Galaxy S23 Ultra, a 5th-gen iPad Air and an M1 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro. I charged one phone battery at a time, even though some packs are capable of multiple-device charging. I charged the phones and tablets from between zero and five percent until they were 100 percent full (or until the power bank was dead), and didn’t use the phones or tablets while they charged other than to power them on and enter the unlock code. In the case of the MacBook, I used it while it was charging (it’s my work computer).

I used the charging cable included with each power bank to charge the Galaxy S22 Ultra, MacBook Pro and the iPad Air. For the iPhones, I used the USB-C to Lighting cable that Apple provides. In the case of the lower-capacity power banks that didn’t include a cord or included one with USB-C to USB-A connectors, I used this 60W-rated USB-C to USB-C cable.

For reference, here are the battery capacities of each device we used for testing:

iPhone 14 Plus: 4,325 mAh
Galaxy S22 Ultra: 4,855mAh
16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro: 27,027mAh

I noted the times for each charge and the number of charges each bank provided. I also paid attention to things like ease of use and overall design.

Other power banks we tested

HyperJuice 245W

Hyper’s massive-but-sleek brick is one nice looking power bank. The HyperJuice 245W packs a hefty 27,000mAh capacity, enough to refill my tester phone about four times and get a MacBook Pro from near-dead to 75 percent. It only has USB-C ports, but you at least get four of them. USB-C only is probably fine for most situations, but a USB-A port would be nice for charging the occasional older peripheral. The 245 wattage is pretty high for a power bank and it was indeed speedy. It filled a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in just over an hour. But it’s the same price and capacity as our Mophie Powerstation pick for laptop banks, and that one has a better variety of ports. Hyper’s battery is also comparable to Anker’s laptop battery, which is cheaper, has built-in cables and has nearly the same capacity. Plus, that bank is just as swanky looking.

Anker Prime 20,000 mAh power bank

Anker’s Prime bank was our previous pick for the best premium power bank, but I thought it worked best with the expensive (yet very convenient) base. Considering it also doesn’t have any built-in cables, we decided to bump the Prime battery from its position and replace it with the Anker Retractable Cable Laptop Bank. There’s still plenty to like about the Prime battery: it’s solid, attractive and tells you just how much charge it has left with its onboard display. When you add the optional base, you not only get a convenient drop-and-go way to recharge, it also acts as a charging hub with three additional USB ports.

EcoFlow Rapid magnetic power bank

I was curious to try out the first power bank from EcoFlow, a company that primarily makes larger power stations and whole-home backup batteries. The first offering in the brand’s Rapid series is a Qi2-enabled magnetic charger with a 5,000mAh capacity. It looks quite nice with shiny silver accents and soft-touch grey plastic on the MagSafe-compatible front. There’s a little pull-out leg that sturdily displays your phone as it charges and the attached USB-C cable lets you refill devices directly, then tucks out of the way when it’s not in use. But it didn’t outperform our top pick in the MagSafe category, in terms of both charging speeds and the amount of charge delivered.

Baseus Blade 2

The Blade 2 from Baseus has a unique, flat shape that’s just a little wider than an ereader — which may make it easier to slip into a low profile laptop bag. It charged a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra considerably faster than any other battery bank we tried, getting it from four percent to full in just over an hour. It then filled the phone back to 62 percent from dead on a second charge in about a half an hour. But $100 is a lot for a standard power bank that holds fewer than two full charges. But if you can find the Blade 2 on sale, snap it up.

Anker MagGo (6.6K)

Anker’s 6.6k MagGo is pretty similar to our top pick for a MagSafe-compatible battery pack. It supports the Qi2 charging standard and props up your iPhone so you can use it or enable StandBy mode while powering up. This one even lets you set the viewing angle from 30 to 65 degrees. It was speedy in getting an iPhone 15 up to 50 percent in about 40 minutes. But for the added bulk, it doesn’t have as much capacity as the 10K MagGo, holding just enough juice for a single full charge plus about 5 percent. But it is $20 cheaper, which may be key for some.

Mophie Snap+ Powerstation Mini

The Mophie snap+ Powerstation Mini is terribly well-built. It feels premium with a rubberized contact point for the MagSafe charging pad and a stand that runs the entire width of the bank itself, making it extra sturdy. It’s compact, too, but only carries a 5,000mAh capacity, which gets you a partial charge on most newer or larger phones. Our current MagSafe/iPhone pick has double the capacity, a stand and a digital display — for just $20 more than the Powerstation Mini.

Power bank FAQs

What’s the difference between a portable power bank and a portable charger?

A slew of terms are used to describe power banks, including portable batteries, portable chargers, external battery packs and even, somewhat confusingly, USB chargers, which is what wall chargers are often called. They all mean the same thing: a lithium ion battery that stores a charge so you can refill a smartphone, tablet, earbuds, console controller, ereader, laptop, or just about any other device with its own built-in, rechargeable battery.

There’s little difference between the terms, so the specs you’ll want to pay attention to are capacity (expressed in mAh), size and weight so you can find the right balance between recharging what you need and portability.

Power stations, on the other hand, are distinct. These are bigger units (often around the size of a car battery) that can be used to charge multiple devices multiple times, but notably, they can’t be taken on airplanes.

Does fast charging actually ruin your battery?

Not exactly. The real enemy of a battery’s longevity is heat. The faster you charge a battery, the more heat is generated. Modern phones have features that keep the battery cool while charging, like physical heat shields and heat sinks, as well as software features that slow down processes that generate too much heat. Phone manufacturers are keen to promote a phone’s fast-charging abilities, so they had to figure out ways to make faster charging work.

While there aren’t long-term studies on what fast charging does to a phone, a study on EV batteries (which use the same general concept of charged lithium ions flowing from one side of the battery to the other, absorbing or releasing a usable charge) showed a very slight decrease in capacity over time with only fast charging — though what actually made a larger difference was how hot the battery itself was, due to ambient temperatures, when it was charged.

In short, fast charging could be slightly harder on your battery than normal charging. But the safeguards most smartphones have make that difference fairly negligible. To really ensure you’re taking the best care of your battery, limiting heat exposure overall is one of the best things you can do.

Can you use a power bank for all your devices?

That depends on the size of the bank and the size of your device’s battery. A small 5,000mAh battery isn’t strong enough to charge laptops, but a portable charger with a 20,000mAh capacity will give your computer a partial refill. You also have to consider port compatibility. If your device has a USB port, you’ll be able to easily find a cable to connect it to a battery. If your device has a more unique port, such as a DC port, you won’t be able to use a battery. Devices with an AC cable and plug can be charged, and sometimes powered (such as in the case of a printer or speaker), by larger laptop batteries with AC ports.

The best power banks and portable chargers for every device in 2025

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Best power banks for 2025