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With the ever-increasing power needs and the number of gadgets that people have on them at any given time, standard chargers do not fit the bill anymore, especially when you travel a lot. Using multiple chargers together can be cumbersome as well – picture your bedside table absolutely crowded with chargers for your various devices. It’s not a pleasant sight at all. Fixing these troubles are multi-port GaN chargers. These bricks not just bundle all your chargers into a single unit, but are also quite powerful despite their miniature sizes, helping juice up your devices to the brim in no time. Today, we take a look at what GaN chargers exactly are and some of the best ones you can buy.
GaN stands for Gallium Nitride, and chargers that make use of this semiconductor are three times as efficient as standard silicon-based chargers. They’re also much more portable and better at handling heat, allowing them to support much higher wattages while maintaining a small size. While GaN chargers are pricier than their silicon counterparts, the benefits make them worth getting. If you’re looking to buy a GaN charger to fast charge your phone, then keep in mind that while plenty of devices do support the PD (Power Delivery) standard, not all of them charge at their maximum supported speeds. For that, you’d have to use the stock charging brick.
This Belkin brick makes for a perfect first GaN charger. It can charge two compatible devices at the same time with its dual USB-C ports. It lets you access up to 65W using a single USB-C port or 45W + 20W when using both. In-built PPS technology ensures that your devices only get the amount of power that they can handle. Belkin claims that with USB-C PD 3.0 enabled, charging an iPhone 13 to 50% takes just 28 minutes and a Samsung Galaxy S21+ takes 27 minutes to charge up to 50% from 0%. But perhaps the best part is the 2-year warranty for the charger and a Connected Equipment warranty worth Rs. 1,50,000. You can purchase the Belkin 65W GaN dual USB-C PD charger from Amazon for Rs 3,999.
Must read: Tech InDepth: Understanding GaN chargers and their advantages
If the Belkin is too low-key for your affairs, then the Zeus with its four ports and whopping 270W output should suffice. The company claims the charger is the “world’s smallest” among its kind. Weight stands at 320g. It comes with a 140W USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 PPS port, two 100W USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 PPS ports, and a 22.5W USB-A port. These, the company claims, can power 3 laptops simultaneously. The product is still in its fundraising stage on Indiegogo but you can order it right now for Rs 10,479 through the same site. Deliveries are expected to be from May 2023 onwards.
It’s not the most powerful out there for a four-port charger but it’s definitely one of the more affordable options in its category, selling for Rs 4,529 on Amazon. Still, Ugreen claims that the charger can charge the MacBook Pro up to 100% within 2 hours. At 172g, the charger is also fairly portable, with a weight similar to the average smartphone.
The Anker 65W USB-C can charge USB-C notebooks including Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air 2018 at full speed via a 45W USB-C port. Meanwhile, the 3 USB ports share a total of 20W to provide optimized charging for mobile devices. But the main highlight of the charger is its design – the SSD-like build makes it really portable. Anker claims that the brick is one of its slimmest offerings.
