Capacity:Think of capacity as the energy reservoir of your power bank. The higher the mAh (milliampere-hour), the more power it can store. So, choose a power bank with a capacity that suits your charging needs and can juice up multiple devices. On test, we found that this was able to restore 50% of our MacBook Air’s battery in 43 minutes with the supplied USB-C cable, and while it wasn’t quite able to get the battery to fully charge, it finished up at 98%, so it has a high enough capacity (enough for almost six recharges of an iPhone 14) to keep your laptop and phone going during your travels. Using the Anker Prime power bank, we were also able to test the charging speed claims of other power banks, as the Anker Prime will report charging speed in wattage.

You're trying to keep it simple: The Baseus Airpow doesn't have any built in wires or wireless charging, so you'll need to carry extras when it's time to power up. That means I could twist my phone sideways into landscape mode and use the Baseus power bank as a portable stand for Apple's new StandBy mode, which is one of my favorite features on iOS 17, and certainly the one I use the most often. If you’re trying to understand watt hours, voltage and power management, then shopping for portable chargers can become a little bit daunting. We'd recommend avoiding anything below 5,000mAh, though, as they'll barely recharge today's smartphones. Look for between 5,000 and 10,000mAh. Basically, you’re trying to balance four factors: size, speed, capacity and price. The rules are simple enough: the less you spend, the lower the capacity and the slower the power bank will charge.We wish there wasn't such an easy answer to this question, because competition is better for everybody, but Anker is making the best power banks right now by far. It offers the best power-to-weight ratio, the fastest charging, and the most useful features. Slide-out the built-in phone stand to watch videos while charging. Note: Only wired charging can be accessed while using the phone stand. It’s best to look at the main battery you’ll need to fuel up – we’re guessing it’s your phone – and work out how large of a power bank you need (of course, all phones have different battery sizes). The capacity is measured in milliamp hours (mAh) and the more you have, the more recharges you’ll get. There are also cool additional features to consider. Our favorite power bank has a built in charging plug so it can go right into a wall outlet. Some power banks have data about your charging devices. Some are just super small and cute. Which power bank is the best quality? In fact, our testing confirms what battery makers usually claim. A battery maker will claim between 60% and 70% efficiency, so that 10,000mAh battery will only give your phone around 6,000mAh of extra battery charge, at the least. In practice we find around 65% efficiency, though occasionally we can do even better.

Anything with 20,000mAh or above will charge your phone multiple times, and many can charge several devices at the same time. As such, they're usually larger, weightier and can be more expensive. While it’s big compared to some of the others on this list, this chunky model is the best power bank to invest in if you want a versatile and impressive battery to charge up your laptop, iPad, phone and everything in between. Don’t know your USB-A from your USB-C or Micro USB? It doesn’t have to be too confusing. The older USB-A is the connector you’ll have seen often over the past 10 years or so (think little portable USB drives) while the newer USB-C connector is the one that has come with the newest Androids and iPhones (on one end at least, these still charge via Apple’s Lightning port). One advantage of this shift to USB-C is that power banks now support USB PD for faster charging. This means your power bank will often recharge faster when connected to a suitable fast charger, at anywhere from 20W to 60W. At those speeds, even a high-capacity charger can recharge fully in three to four hours. If you've got one of Apple's iPhone 12, 13 or 14 models, there's a new breed of portable charger on the market.Anker batteries also look great and are built with high quality parts. The display on our best battery for power users is bright and sharp OLED display, totally unnecessary for a power bank, but that's what makes Anker the best. It far exceeds our expectations of what's necessary to make power banks that are great. Dimensions: 9.91 x 6.4 x 1.65 cm | Weight: 173g | Capacity: 5,000mAh | Ports: USB-C (input and output) and wireless charging The power bank combines ultra-compact dynamic power, maximum charging speed for every port, the advanced ActiveShield™ 2.0 safety system, unparalleled compatibility, and Power Delivery 3.1 technology, ensuring efficient and secure charging for all your devices. You have a watch that isn't from Apple: The Otterbox 2-in-1 Power Bank only attaches magnetically to the Apple Watch. Other smartwatches, like the Pixel Watch, won't work with this one, not at all.