I’ve switched from fast charger to fully adaptive charger and already feel safe

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ZDNET Highlights

• Adaptive charging aims to reduce battery wear and tear by keeping the charge speed low.
• The Anker Nano 45W is the best adaptive charger available.
• Using a low-power charger for overnight charging can give you the most benefits.

Whether you’re using a cheap $10 charger or one that costs a lot, the modern USB charger is a wonderful piece of technology. It may look like it’s simply a box plugged into a wall outlet and a cable going to another box. But there is a lot going on behind the scenes.

As soon as you connect the charger to your device – be it a smartphone, tablet, laptop or power bank – the charger activates, and both gadgets instantly negotiate the best and safest voltage and current combo to use before charging begins. Then, both the charger and the device being charged continuously monitor the voltage, current, and temperature to make sure charging is safe and nothing explodes or catches fire.

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Gone are the days when a charger would put as much power as possible into a device.

Once the gadget is close to fully charged, the charger reduces the voltage until the battery is full, at which point charging stops.

And if a fault causes an overcurrent or overvoltage spike, or a short circuit in the cable or device, the charger steps in and cuts off the power.

But what if chargers get even smarter?

This is where smart adaptive chargers come in handy. Like most new technologies, this technology is also known by different names. Anker calls it Care Mode, while other manufacturers throw in “intelligent” charging, “smart regulated” and sometimes “AI” for good measure. They are different words for the same thing.

What is adaptive charging?

Over the past few years, USB charger power output has exploded (realistically). Back when you got barely half an amp from a USB-A charger, we needed all the power the charger could muster. But now that chargers can handle 140W or more of power without any hassle, there is a need to control that power.

In an ideal world, you need a fast charge to get the device to about 20%, a steady charge to get most of the charging done up to 80%, and then switch the charger to trickle charge for the last 20%.

Ideally, you’ll also want a way to turn off this feature if you want to blast as much charge into the device as quickly as possible.

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Adaptive chargers do exactly that. The charger communicates with the device being charged, the two negotiate how best to proceed with charging, and then the device goes through various charging stages. The Anker Nano 45W will start at 45W output and then reduce it to 20 to 30W for the bulk of the charge, and then drop to 10W for the final top-off.

This is the perfect way to charge a device like a smartphone and keep the battery in as good condition as possible, and it’s the ideal charging protocol when the phone is left connected to a charger overnight or for a long period of time.

Does adaptive charging work?

I was initially skeptical about adaptive chargers. After all, charging protocols like Power Delivery do a good job of keeping things safe, and almost every charger now supports them. And I’ve seen a lot of buzzwords in my time, so I know talk is cheap.

However, based on testing I’ve done by monitoring power draw and temperatures, I’ve seen a notable drop in both overall charger and device temperatures (about 25°F and 6°F, respectively), which is a good thing for the longevity of a modern smartphone.

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But (yes, there’s always a but): Adaptive power doesn’t break or bend the laws of physics. The only way to get less heat during charging is to reduce the power output, and this, in turn, will increase the charging time.

Does it work with every device?

Full adaptive charging, like Anker Care Mode, doesn’t work with every phone. In fact, I’ve only seen support for the iPhone 17, 16, and 15 series as well as the iPad Pro models from 2020. This is because the charger needs to know which device it is charging, and as of now, the number of devices that can do this is limited.

This is the biggest limitation. However, considering how many millions of iPhones support this type of charging, along with the fact that some companies are working to add more smartphone support, things are looking good for the future.

Don’t want to buy a new charger with adaptive features? I suggest you use a low-power charger for overnight charging — something in the 20W range Perfect for – and keep your fast charger for day-to-day top-ups and larger things like laptops and power banks.

Do you need it?

This question is sure to spark debate.

Ultimately, how quickly the battery charges is controlled by its own BMS (battery management system). One could argue that all the power delivered by the charge should be put into the device and let the BMS decide how much power the battery will get. It’s a fair point, but considering how popular modern handsets can become, I’m not sure it’s the best idea when it comes to longevity. After all, heat and aggressive charging are the biggest contributors to battery degradation, and anything you can do to reduce it should help you get the most out of your battery.

And while modern smartphones can cost $1,000 and up, that’s not a bad thing.

Also: After testing this Anker, I wish every wireless charger had a thermoelectric cooler

However, if you’re concerned about heat while charging, you can always take a different approach and invest in a wireless charger that features built-in cooling, such as Anker MagSafe 3-in-1 Charging Station. This unit did an amazing job of cooling my iPhone.

What should you buy?

The best option is to have an adaptive charger Anker Nano 45W. It’s cheap – $29 – and its modest power output makes it ideally suited for charging overnight. This model has a TUV-certified Care Mode that handles the initial fast charge perfectly, then shifts to a low-power mode for charging, before finally downshifting to trickle mode.

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Ugreen Uno 100W Another good option. It doesn’t have the same three changing modes, but it does a great job of shifting into trickle mode when most of the charging is complete.