Anker’s 100W pint-sized USB-C charger is now shipped, but it’s already sold out on Amazon

At CES 2022, Anker announced an addition to its Nano II USB-C charger program with this more powerful version with two USB-C ports capable of emitting up to 100W, plus an old-fashioned USB-A charging port. Now the $ 79 Anker Nano II 100W (also known as the Anker 736 charger) has gone on sale on Amazon (via MacRygter), even though it already shows sold out.

The Nano II chargers use the company’s second-generation version of gallium nitride-based components, replacing older charger 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 reduce the number of items you need to keep all your devices turned on. Another plus is that its 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.

Image: Anchor

The caveat with this charger is that its USB-C ports are capable of up to 100 W of power output – but this is only true when you have a device connected to one of them. Many notebooks and other devices require significantly less power than that to charge or even fast charge, but this is something to consider if you have a larger MacBook Pro. Using both USB-C ports at the same time cuts the max output to 60W from the first slot and 40W from the second – Anker has a diagram to break it down further.

Image: Anchor

Anker is not the only company using gallium nitride (GaN) for smaller, more powerful chargers – Apple’s first block with the technology is the 140 W power supply that comes with the 16-inch MacBook Pro – but it has been ahead of the pack since showing its first GaN power adapter in 2018.

In an interview with The edge EiC Nilay Patel on Decoder podcast last fall, Anker CEO Steven Yang explained why his company has been so quick to introduce GaN and repeat products based on it.

Gallium nitride is a key technology that came on the market about three years ago, but you are already talking about third generation. Is gallium nitride a technology that you need to invest engineering resources in? Is there a supplier pipeline or a materials science pipeline? How do you manage that investment?

Anchor was actually the first to introduce gallium nitride for consumer electronics charging. The way we were able to do that was by collaborating with the frontier chipset manufacturers who developed the gallium nitride charging chip. We were almost their alpha customer. So when the chip was first developed, there are a lot of hangers to jump through to make it a product. It requires not only materials science knowledge but also knowledge of applications, knowledge of system architecture and knowledge of heat management. It is almost a system effort. We gather knowledge in it, and connect it with the gallium nitride chips and the manufacturer to build them into products.

You will see GaN2 this year in the size 65 watts and 30 watts. We have been working with Power Innovations for almost a year on it. GaN2 is the brand new generation of chips that we launched in the middle of this year. GaN2’s 65-watt size was a fraction of the competition’s.

The reason we were able to do that is based on Power Innovations’ latest generation of their GaN2. We have been the only partner for almost a year in developing it – you will not see similar products from other brands for at least three to six months because PI and Anker work exclusively together.

So Anker and PI have had an exclusive relationship to develop the next generation of GaN chipset, and then that window opens three to six months later so other people can buy that chipset.

Yes.

This was confirmed by Anker, Head of US Media Relations, Tyler Mallery The edge that the charger actually started and that Anker is waiting for more stock to arrive. The 736 charger is short enough that it’s not even listed on Anker’s website yet, but if it’s the charger you’ve been waiting for, keep an eye on the Amazon page to see when it returns.