Anker 100W 3-port charger (B121B) review: the split is printed, the display is a gimmick, the cable is the catch

Verdict

What it is

The split — why this charger

Every multi-port charger shares its total wattage between ports, and the sharing rule decides whether your laptop charges or merely stops discharging while a phone is plugged in. Most makers describe the rule as “smart” or “intelligent distribution” and leave it there. Anker publishes a table: USB-C1 and USB-C2 together give 70 + 30 W or 95 + 5 W; USB-C1 and USB-A give 67 + 33 or 95 + 5; all three give 80 + 12 + 7.5 W. USB-C1 is the priority port and USB-A alone gives up to 33 W.

Read that against your kit. A 14-inch MacBook Pro or a 90-to-100 W Windows laptop on C1 gets 70 W with a phone on C2 — a real charge under load. Add earbuds on USB-A and the laptop drops to 80 W while the two small devices get 12 and 7.5 — still fine. The 95 + 5 case is for a phone that draws almost nothing, such as one already full. Knowing this in advance is worth more than any feature on the front.

The display

The touch screen shows what each port is drawing and the charger’s temperature, and lets you switch modes. It is accurate and pleasant and, in daily use, ignored: a charger lives behind a desk or in a bag, and the number that matters — is the laptop charging? — is on the laptop. It adds cost and a surface to scratch. We would not choose the charger for it and would not avoid it because of it.

The cable

USB PD delivers 100 W as 20 V at 5 A, and only a cable with an e-marker chip is allowed to carry 5 A. A standard cable is rated 3 A — 60 W — and the charger will politely supply 60 W without a word. Anker says so on its page and includes a cable, but does not state the cable’s rating on the UK listing. Assume the included one is 100 W-rated because Anker says the charger needs one; if you use your own, check it is marked 100 W or 5 A.

PPS, and Samsung

Anker’s UK page lists USB PD at 20 V 5 A and does not mention PPS. Samsung’s Super Fast Charging — 25 or 45 W — needs PPS and, at 45 W, a 5 A cable. Without it a Samsung charges at standard fast-charge speed and reports “Fast charging” rather than “Super fast”. This is not a fault, but a mismatch: for a household with a recent Samsung phone, the UGREEN Nexode 65 W or Belkin 65 W state PPS and the Anker does not.

Anker’s page disagrees with itself

Two figures on Anker’s own UK page contradict each other. The body copy gives the size as 69 × 55 × 34 mm and the weight as 212 g excluding the plug; the specification table on the same page prints 15 × 11 × 5.5 cm and 74 g. The table’s size is almost certainly the box, and 74 g is implausible for a 100 W GaN charger with a screen. We publish the body-copy figures and mark them as a conflict in our data — you should treat the size as “about 7 × 5.5 × 3.5 cm” and the weight as “about 200 g, more than a phone”.

Safety

A 100 W charger cannot overpower a phone: under USB PD the phone requests what it can take and the charger supplies that or less. The safety question with chargers is counterfeits, and Electrical Safety First’s advice is to buy from a reputable retailer rather than a marketplace third party — on Amazon, the brand’s own listing with a UK plug, which this is.

Who should buy it

• A 14-inch MacBook Pro or 90–100 W Windows laptop plus a phone, on a desk or in a bag.
• Anyone who wants the multi-port arithmetic in writing before paying.
• Someone charging three things from one socket and happy to see the numbers.

Who should not

• A 16-inch MacBook Pro at full speed — that is 140 W and Anker’s 140 W four-port.
• Samsung owners who want Super Fast Charging — PPS is not stated.
• Anyone for whom 200 g and a screen are too much charger for a phone and a tablet; the Nano 30 W or a 45 W.

Sources