Phones stopped shipping with a charger in the box years ago, which has turned a small white cube into one of the more irritating purchases in tech. Apple’s own 20W USB-C Power Adapter costs $19 for a single unit with the cable sold separately. Against that, Prime members can get a two-pack of Anker 20W USB-C chargers with two cables for $13 on Amazon, instead of the typical $16. The price is part of the Prime Big Deal offers and applies to all four colors.
Two Chargers, Two Cables, Less Than One Apple Adapter
The arithmetic is simple enough to do in your head: For less than Apple asks for one adapter, the Anker pack contains two charging blocks and two USB-C to USB-C cables, each 5 feet long. That is one set for the bedside table and one for the office, or one for the suitcase that never has to be unpacked. Five feet is also longer than the cables most phones come with, enough to reach from an outlet behind a sofa to the armrest. In a household with teenagers, a spare set tends to pay for itself the first time someone’s charger goes missing and nobody admits to having borrowed it.
Each block delivers up to 20W, the level at which recent iPhones and Samsung phones charge quickly. Anker lists the iPhone 15 through iPhone 18 families and the iPad Pro among compatible devices. The charger has two ports, one USB-C and one USB-A, and both can be used at once, for a phone and a pair of earbuds for example. Since 20W is the maximum output, I would expect each device to charge more slowly when two are connected, whatever the product page suggests about speed. Used one device at a time, which is how a bedside charger spends most of its life, that caveat disappears.
Some limits are worth stating plainly. Twenty watts is a phone and tablet charger: it will top up a laptop slowly at best, and it is not a replacement for the brick that came with a MacBook. The included cables are USB-C at both ends, so they suit an iPhone 15 or later and most Android phones, while owners of older iPhones with a Lightning port will need to keep their existing cable and plug it into the block.
On the safety side, Anker cites protection against overvoltage and a temperature control system, the kind of thing you hope never to think about and the main reason to avoid no-name chargers from a gas station. The blocks are compact enough to disappear in a pocket of a bag, which is handy for travel since one block and one cable weigh next to nothing in a carry-on, and the pack is covered by an 18-month warranty.