At CES 2022, Anker announced an addition to Nano II USB-C Charger Lined up With this most powerful version It has two USB-C ports capable of outputting up to 100W, as well as an outdated USB-A charging port. Now the $79 Anker Nano II 100W (aka Anker 736 Charger) is on sale at Amazon (via Mac rumors), although it appears they are already out of stock.
Nano II chargers use the company’s second generation version of gallium nitride-based components that replace the charger’s older silicon components to pump more power into a smaller package with less heat. According to Anker, the Nano II 100W is 34 percent smaller than Apple’s 96W charger, with similar capabilities plus two additional ports that help you cut down on the number of items you’ll need to keep all your devices powered. Another advantage is that fast charging is compatible with a wide range of devices, with USB Power Delivery 3.0 PPS (Programmable Power Standard), and Quick Charge 3.0 support.
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The caveat with this charger is that the USB-C ports are capable of outputting up to 100W of power – but that’s only true when you have one device connected to one of them. Many laptops and other devices require much less power than charging or even fast charging, but this is something to consider if you have a larger MacBook Pro. Using two USB-C ports simultaneously brings the maximum output down to 60 watts from the first slot and 40 watts from the second — Anker has a scheme to break it down even further.
Anker isn’t the only company using gallium nitride (GaN) for smaller, more powerful chargers — Apple’s first brick with this technology is 140W power supply that comes with the 16-inch MacBook Pro – But he was ahead of the pack Since the first GaN transducer was introduced in 2018.
In an interview with the edge EiC Nilay Patel on untie podcast last fall, Anker CEO Steven Yang He explained why his company was so quick to introduce GaN and iterated products based on it.
Gallium nitride is a key enabling technology that came out on the market about three years ago, but you’re already talking about the third generation. Is gallium nitride a technology in which you should invest engineering resources? Is there a supplier pipeline or a materials science pipeline? How do you manage this investment?
Anker was actually the first to introduce gallium nitride for charging consumer electronics. The way we were able to do this was by partnering with frontier chip manufacturers who developed a gallium nitride charge chip. We were almost an alpha customer. So when the chip was first developed, there was a lot of hoops to jump in to turn it into a product. This requires not only knowledge of materials science, but also applied knowledge, system engineering knowledge, and knowledge about heat management. It is almost system effort. We gather the knowledge on that, and we bundle that along with the gallium nitride flakes and manufacturer to build them into products.
You’ll see GaN2 this year in a 65W size and a 30W size. We’ve worked with Power Innovations for about a year on this. GaN2 is the new generation of chips we launched in the middle of this year. GaN2’s 65 watts was a small part of the competition.
The reason we’re able to do this is due to the latest generation of Power Innovations from GaN2. We’ve been the only partner for about a year developing this – you won’t see similar products coming from other brands for at least three to six months because PI and Anker only work together.
So, Anker and PI had an exclusive relationship to develop the next generation of GaN chips, and then that window opens three to six months later so that other people can buy those chips.
Yeah.
Tyler Mallery, President of American Media Relations, confirmed that the edge That the shipper has already launched and that Anker is waiting for more stock to arrive. The 736 charger is slim enough that it isn’t listed on the Anker website yet, but if this is the charger you’ve been waiting for, keep an eye on this Amazon page to see when it’s back.