Here Are the Best Portable Chargers for 2021

Today’s mobile device batteries are impressive, providing reliable power that keeps you working and playing for hours at a time. But inevitably, the battery in your phone, tablet or laptop is going to run down. And if you’re not near electrical power when that happens, you can easily get stuck.

Sometimes this is just an annoyance. Other times it gets in the way of getting work done, or it can even be unsafe. For example, if you’re relying on your phone for mapping through an unfamiliar city, a dead battery can be a serious problem.

If the battery on your phone, tablet or laptop isn’t lasting as long as you need, a portable charger is an ideal solution. With a portable charger or power bank, you’ll have no trouble getting the rest of the way through your day. These are the best portable chargers you can get right now in 2021.

First things first, here’s what not to do. Don’t go to a big online retailer and just buy the cheapest portable charger you can find from some brand you’ve never heard of.

Portable chargers, at their core, are just big batteries. And poorly made big batteries can be dangerous because of what’s inside them. Today’s modern lithium-ion batteries are incredibly efficient, but they pose risks of fire and even slight explosion.

Even high-end product makers like Samsung have had issues with this. But the cheaper the product, the less care and attention you should expect went into it.

If you don’t want your power bank burning a hole in your pants (or worse), stick with well-known brands that have a good reputation. You might pay a little more, but the safety component is worth it.

The Anker PowerCore Fusion is a compact portable charger and multi-device charger perfect for charging up to three phones or tablets. This device comes equipped with two USB-A ports and one Micro USB port and provides 5,000 mAh of power.

One great feature of the Anker PowerCore Fusion is that it supports pass-through charging. This means that it works as a battery-based charger and as a wall charger. Plug it into the wall at night, and you’ll have a fully charged phone and portable battery pack when you wake up.

If you’re an iPhone user, you probably have quite a few Lightning-to-USB cables lying around. However, you might not want to add a micro USB charging cable to the mix for charging your portable charger. If that sounds like you, then this Belkin solution is for you. You can charge your portable charger via a lightning port, meaning you can use your existing iPhone charging setup to charge this power bank, too.

The 10,000 mAh battery is more than enough to charge up to two phones or tablets over the two 12W and 5W USB-A ports. And Belkin stands behind its chargers, with a two-year warranty that extends to devices plugged into the power bank.

If you simply need the most power for your money, consider the Anker PowerCore 20,100mAh. 20,100 mAh is an absolute ton of juice, which should be enough to fully charge your phone several times over.

Two USB-A outputs allow for dual charging, and this model supports some forms of high-speed charging (like PowerIQ).

The Mophie Powerstation all-in-one is a tremendous portable charger, though it’s overkill for some users.

This unique portable charger can power four devices at once, including two wirelessly. There’s magnetic charging for Apple Watch, plus normal wireless charging for a smartphone or wireless headphones. You also get an 18W USB-C PD port for very fast wired charging, even for your MacBook. Lastly, there’s one standard USB-A port for pretty much anything else.

If you’re all in on Apple (including Apple Watch), this is the power bank for you. But if not, you’re paying for features you aren’t likely to use.

Because portable chargers are fairly inexpensive, Upsie doesn’t offer extended warranty coverage for them. But what are you charging with that power bank? Chances are, you can protect that phone, tablet or laptop with a quality extended warranty from Upsie.

Upsie is different because they don’t have high overhead markups or confusing, hard-to-use policies. Upsie is built with you, the customer, as the focus. You get fantastic extended warranty coverage at equally fantastic rates.