Newer phones are charging faster and faster, which is great. But you can't just use any old wall adapter to get some of those truly fast charging speeds, since that technology needs more juice to work properly. That's where you run into a dilemma.
Faster wall blocks are, well, faster, but they're generally much bigger, too. If you've ever seen the power adapters for tablets you know exactly what I'm talking about; significantly bigger blocks that take up way more room, possibly obscuring the other outlet on the wall. Yuck.
Aukey has a solution for that, though. Part of their new Omni-Power series, the Minima 27W PD wall charger is capable of delivering significantly faster charging speeds to your phone in a much more compact package.
Design
There's not a ton to talk about here, since charging blocks are pretty basic little gadgets. It's a square that you plug into the wall, and you plug your charging cable into that. Simple!
Aukey doesn't rock the boat here, delivering a pretty basic little cube with a foldable plug and a single USB-C port facing outwards. But just check it out compared to Apple's standard 5W charging block that everyone has laying around.
Not only are they roughly the same size (Aukey's block is a little bigger, we'll give it that) but it can deliver over 5x as much wattage to your phone. This small design is all thanks to the gallium nitride (GaN) design that's getting more popular lately. GaN chargers are much more lightweight and efficient than older silicon chargers, and that's how we're starting to see manufacturers cram so much performance into a tiny package.
Aukey topped this off with the retracting prongs on the back of the block, which makes it extremely easy to carry around and toss in your bag. It won't take up much space on the wall, either, so no complaints here.
Performance
Remember, the Minima charger is capable of delivering 27W of power to a device. That's enough to charge some small laptops, and it's going to max out most phones' fast charging speeds. Sure, there are some newer devices that can take advantage of even more wattage, but most people are using a phone where this is going to be plenty of power for a quick charge. Remember, even OnePlus's bragged about Warp Charge tech uses a 30W adapter, and it's easily twice as big as the Minima.
That kind of current means it can also handle your tablets, Nintendo Switch, and tons of other USB-C accessories. It's very flexible in a modern market where everything's converging into a single charging cable.
Since Aukey has built in quite a few intelligent charging features, the block also has overcurrent and overvoltage protection. It's got a smart detection system for temperature, too, which is a valuable addition to anything drawing nearly 30W from the wall.
Worth it?
There's a lot to like about Aukey's little wall charger. It's compact and easy to carry around and delivers more than enough juice for all the devices that I regularly need to charge. It's not cheap, though.
At least, it isn't cheap compared to some older style chargers. Relative to other GaN chargers and other things in this size, the $40 asking price really isn't that bad, if you're willing to pay more for some extra efficiency and smarter design. You can easily save some money on a charger that's just as fast, but you're going to get something that's considerably bigger and bulkier, and that goes against the idea of Aukey's Omni-Power charging accessories. Instead of big and clunky, you're getting something sleek and intelligent, and sometimes that's worth paying a few more dollars.
Buy it now: Aukey Store
