The 7 Best Portable Chargers and Power Banks to Save Your Dying Phone

This is the most compact package that still has everything you want from a power bank. It has USB-A and USB-C ports, a wireless Qi2 charging pad, and even a wall plug. That means technically it can also act like a power brick when you’re at the hotel and a power bank when you’re on the plane. Plus, the InfinaCore P3 Pro comes with wall-plug adapters for when those travels take you international.

I especially love the digital screen on this charger. It centers the battery life, making sure it’s always on display, but will also display the wattage of power output and time until charged. That’s all standard. What puts the InfinaCore in a league of its own is that it gauges temperature, too, so you can see when you’re pushing its limits before having to scorch your hand. The screen, and the nifty clip attached, makes it the perfect portable charger for travelers.

The big-boy power banks I’ve tested can get pretty intense—heavy, too. While this option from Cuktech is certainly not on the lightweight side compared with the rest of this bunch, I found it remarkably powerful for how portable it wound up being. It’s great for a quick zap for your phone, but it will also take your laptop and gaming handhelds from zero to full on one charge.

The 15 Ultra Power Bank isn’t without its nice-to-haves, either. Open the box and you’ll find a (lengthy) USB-C cable and a cozy drawstring travel pouch for storing everything. The display may be guilty of TMI, but as Esquire’s resident nerd, I appreciated the amount of detailed information it gives with each charge.

I’ve outed myself as a wireless-charging fan before, and what can I say? Guilty as charged. This MagSafe- and Qi2-compatible charger is the one I keep in my backpack at all times. It’s my lifeline.

Not only does it have a Qi pad, but the Baseus portable charger also boasts a built-in USB-C so you don’t even need to carry around an extra cable to charge your phone. Just plug it in and MagSafe that shit to the back (as demonstrated). Or use the USB-C to charge your AirPods—whatever you need.

It’s also one of the most lightweight portable phone chargers I’ve used. And the simple digital screen shows battery percentage and wattage out. Only the essentials. Can’t say I need a portable phone charger with much more than this. The only thing it can’t do well is power my laptop.

It’s a proven customer favorite on Amazon; I can’t deny the appeal of the portable phone charge from Inui. First off, it’s small and light. The thing is almost too slight to be called a power bank. Second, it’s dirt cheap. Put more delicately, it fits within a budget. It will cost you as much as one of the overpriced salads you get for lunch.

Finally, who can deny the appeal of the puppy paw? The brand’s adorable logo will drain as your battery gets closer to empty. Pretty cute. And there’s a flashlight … for when you inevitably need to go fishing for USB cables in the dark.

As an iPhone user, it’s been hard to find anything to replace my Apple Watch. It’s as much a part of myself as my phone, and I doubt I’m alone in that. So if you want a portable charger that will juice up your phone and your watch in tandem, this is the number-one pick. It’s one of the only picks, really, but the best of the few that are out there.

Aside from that, it’s a pretty typical 10,000mAh charger. A small digital screen shows your battery life and power usage. Like the Baseus, the Anker power bank has built-in USB-C for the days when you can’t be bothered for a cable. It’s all here, and if you wear an Apple Watch daily, it’s hard not to recommend this one over all the rest.

If portable and discreet are your main concerns, I get it. You don’t even want something you need a backpack for, right? The Anker Nano charger will fit perfectly in your pocket—and therefore your life.

The built-in USB-C dongle folds in and out, so it will never snag on your headphone wires or whatever else is in your pockets. It doesn’t really have a big enough battery to charge more than one device efficiently at a time. But that’s okay. This is for charging your phone (as long as it has USB-C).

If you want something simple, durable, and powerful enough to charge your laptop a couple times, turn to an old standby. We’ve been writing about BioLite products for years now, so maybe we are biased, but we know one thing. The brand knows the outdoors.

If you are bringing your Switch, tablet, or laptop on a camping trip, this is the portable charger to bring to power ’em all. Just remember to bring your own power cables.