Best GaN chargers 2023
Anker leads the way with compact designs and the right price.
The best chargers to buy today for laptops, Android phones, and everything in between these days are GaN chargers, short for Gallium nitride. Semiconductors made with Gallium nitride like the Anker Nano II can be smaller than traditional silicon chips, and smaller chips make smaller, lighter, and ultimately better chargers. The tech has been around for a couple of years now, but this is still a relatively small field. These are the best GaN chargers with Power Delivery charging you can buy today.
More power for your devices with compact chargers
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Too small to pass up
This 45W charger is smaller than most 30W chargers, thanks to what Anker calls "GaN II" chips, making it even more efficient and limiting heat buildup. The folding prongs also make it perfect for travel.
Charge it all at once
This desktop charging station is compact and actually kind of handsome with that texture across the top. You can charge a laptop plus three peripherals at once, like a phone, smartwatch, and headphones.
Sleek and stylish
Like the 65W four-port model, this is another nice-looking GaN charger that can charge either a phone, tablet, or laptop. It can also hide in a deck of playing cards if your coworkers tend to "borrow" yours.
Charge it all faster
This charging station is similar to Anker's, but you get two USB-C ports instead of three USB-A ports. If you need to charge a laptop and some big honking power bank at the same time, this might be your better bet.
Dual-port power
The Spigen ArcStation Pro is a larger GaN charger designed to provide stable power and stay cool. You can charge up to 100W on a single USB-C port or 45W each when using two. This is enough power to keep many laptops humming along while charging a phone or tablet as well.
Four ports where you need them
The Spigen ArcDock 65W 4-port charger doesn't need to plug directly into the wall with an AC power cable allowing you to put this charger right where you need it. It can provide 65W to a single USB-C port and can split the power up in multiple ways to charge all of your devices at once.
The only charger you need
This UGREEN Nexode charger can deliver 100W of power over USB-C using a single port or up to 65W when charging two or three devices. Even with four devices at once, the top port gets 45W which is enough to keep many laptops, like Chromebooks, running while you charge up the rest of your devices.
A complete desktop power solution
The PowerCombo 65W Charging Station from Baseus can handle most or all of the power needs of a modern work-from-home desktop. Available in black or white for a better match, this charging station has up to 65W power delivery on one USB-C port and comes with two outlets for other devices like a monitor or standalone battery charger.
Power for two 60W devices at once
The 120W ArcDock from Spigen increases the available power to 100W with a single USB-C charger and can deliver up to 60W to each USB-C port when charging two. Have a wireless charger for you desk? Get 18W of power on a USB-A port for it without giving up a single watt on the primary USB-C port for your laptop.
What GaN actually is and what it does in your charger
GaN stands for Gallium Nitride, an alternative to the traditional silicon that has dominated electronics for the last few decades. Gallium nitride has some advantages — a wider band-gap means it's easier for energy to pass through it, and it has higher limits for the temperatures and power levels it can handle — that makes it almost tailor-made for higher-capacity tech like Power Delivery chargers for today's best Android phones.
In short, semiconductors and chargers made with gallium nitride are smaller and more efficient, which in turn can help them avoid heating up as much as traditional silicon-based chargers.
However, since the goal of most gallium nitride chargers is to be as small as possible, some GaN chargers still get uncomfortably warm when used for long periods of time because they don't have as much room for heat dissipation. You're not going to be able to bake a cookie on a GaN charger the way you can on a MacBook brick during an all-night editing session, but they'll still get a little warm depending on how hard you work them.
What makes the Anker Nano II the best GaN charger on the market
In an age where you can charge quite literally all of your tech via one protocol — from your laptop to your phone to all the power banks and headphones in between — one good Power Delivery charger can replace a dozen chargers. So if you can get away with a single-port charger — or you need a charger for your purse or backpack — it's hard to deny the appeal of the ridiculously tiny Anker Nano II 45W. This charger is available in 30W and 65W models, but the 45W is the Goldilocks of the bunch in both size and price. 45W is the top speed for charging the best Chromebooks and many USB-C laptops, and it will charge almost all tablets and phones at top speed, too!
If you need to charge two devices at once, think of two students with Chromebooks for homework, the Spigen 120W ArcDock is a great pick. Not only does it have enough power for two power-efficient laptops at once, it has the ports to top up all of your essential devices once homework is done.
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Ara Wagoner was a staff writer at Android Central. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing about cases, Chromebooks, or customization, she's wandering around Walt Disney World. If you see her without headphones, RUN. You can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.