Compact USB-C chargers that replace the box of plugs: six sizes from 30 W to 140 W, with the port splits that matter

The smallest thing here, and the honest answer for most people: one USB-C port, 30 W, 72.6 g, 49 × 49 × 32 mm before the pins, and the pins fold. Anker’s page gives the output table in full — 5 V at 3 A up to 20 V at 1.5 A — and says it supports PPS, which is the protocol Samsung phones need for their fast mode and iPhones ignore. At 30 W it charges any current phone at that phone’s maximum, an iPad at a sensible speed and a pair of earbuds without being asked.

What it does not do is the box-of-plugs job for a household. One port means one device, and 30 W is not a laptop figure — a MacBook Air will take it, slowly, and complain under load. Anker’s page describes the warranty only as hassle-free; the Amazon listing says 24 months. No cable is included, which for a phone charger you already own three of is the correct decision.

Buy it as the bedside or coat-pocket charger next to one of the bigger ones, or as the only charger for someone who owns a phone and nothing that plugs into USB-C besides.

The 45 W figure is not arbitrary: it is what Samsung’s larger phones ask for to show “Super fast charging 2.0”, and the UGREEN gives it from either of two USB-C ports with PPS, in a 50 × 50 × 42 mm body with folding pins, for a two-year warranty. UGREEN’s list of protocols is long — PD 3.0, PPS, QC 4.0 down to 2.0, FCP, AFC, Apple and Samsung 5 V modes — which is a way of saying it will negotiate with almost anything made in the last decade.

The thing UGREEN does not say is how the two ports share the 45 W. A customer review on UGREEN’s own page suggests 25 plus 20, but that is a customer, not a specification, so we treat the second port as a slot for earbuds or a watch rather than a second phone at speed. Weight is not stated either, and there is no cable or USB-A port.

For a Samsung owner with earbuds it is the right size; for anyone with a laptop it is the wrong one.

This is the shape most people picture when they think of “one charger for the bag”: two USB-C ports and one USB-A, 65 W, folding pins, 57 × 50 × 46 mm. Alone, 65 W runs a MacBook Air or a 13-inch MacBook Pro at full speed and most 65 W Windows laptops too — UGREEN’s page claims a MacBook Air M4 from empty to half in 30 minutes. The USB-A port is the concession to reality: the watch charger, the Kindle cable and the bike light all still end in USB-A.

The protocol list covers PD 3.0 and PPS on the USB-C ports, so Samsung fast charging works, plus QC 4+ and the Huawei and Samsung legacy modes. Two-year warranty. What UGREEN’s UK page does not state is the multi-port split — “power is split optimally across the 3 ports” is the whole of it — or the weight. In use that means a laptop and a phone together will each get less than you might guess, and you will not know how much less until you try. No cable in the box.

If you want the three-port shape and can live with the missing figures, this is the compact version of it. If you want the figures, read on.

Belkin publishes the number the others leave out. Alone, either port gives up to 65 W; with both in use, the top port gives up to 45 W and the bottom up to 20 W — a laptop and a phone at known, sensible speeds. Both ports support PD 3.0 and PPS, so a Samsung gets its fast mode from the 45 W side. Belkin adds a footnote worth knowing: the full 45 W on the top port needs the second port free of a USB-C-to-Lightning cable.

What Belkin does not publish is the rest: no dimensions, no weight, and no statement about whether the pins fold — so the “compact” in the category name is Belkin’s word and we cannot check it against the others. There is no USB-A port and no cable in the box. Two-year warranty.

Choose it if you value documented behaviour over the last few millimetres, and if everything you own has moved to USB-C.

The step up to 100 W is for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 90–100 W Windows laptops that shrug at 65 W. Anker’s page gives both the single-port figures (100 W on either USB-C, 33 W on the USB-A) and every split: 70 plus 30 W for two USB-C devices, or 95 plus 5; 67 plus 33 with the USB-A; 80, 12 and 7.5 W with all three, USB-C1 taking priority. A touch display on the body shows what each port is drawing, which turns the arithmetic into something you can see.

The pins fold, and a USB-C cable is in the box — Anker notes that the full 100 W needs a cable rated for it. Two figures on Anker’s own page disagree with each other: the body copy gives 69 × 55 × 34 mm and 212 g excluding the plug, while the specification table says 15 × 11 × 5.5 cm and 74 g, which reads like the packaging; we quote the body copy and mark the conflict. PPS is not stated for this model, so a Samsung owner should check before buying it as the phone’s charger too. Anker’s warranty is described only as hassle-free.

At this size it is a desk charger that travels, not a pocket charger.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro ships with a 140 W adapter, and this is the only charger here that matches it, using USB PD 3.1’s 28 V level on either of two USB-C ports. Anker’s split table is the most complete in the group: 70 plus 70 W for two laptops, 100 plus 40 or 100 plus 33 with the third USB-C or the USB-A, 65 plus 45 plus 30 with three devices, and 134 W total with all four ports busy. Protocols run from PD 3.1 through PPS to the legacy Quick Charge and Huawei modes; a touch display shows the draw.

Two conditions. Anything above 100 W needs an E-Marker cable rated for it — the one in the box qualifies — and Anker says Dell laptops are capped at 60 W by Dell’s own protocol. Weight is stated as 295 g in Anker’s body copy and spec sheet and 395 g in the UK table (with the cable, presumably); the body is 69 × 69 × 36 mm, the pins fold, and the warranty is not stated on the UK page.

This is the household charging station: it lives by the desk or the sofa and replaces the laptop brick, the tablet charger and the phone charger together. It does not go in a jacket.