Actual tests of eight fast - charging power banks in 2025: All of them have false specifications. Which one has the most serious false specifications?
Overnight, the landscape of the power bank industry seems to have changed.
On June 26th, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued a notice stating that, starting from June 28th, passengers are prohibited from carrying power banks without a 3C logo, with an unclear 3C logo, or those of recalled models or batches on domestic flights. Without a 3C logo, it's like "running naked without a license," and these power banks can only be left at the airport's self - abandonment point, awaiting the end of their product lifespan.
I have to say that the successive power bank incidents have made people a bit nervous, and I'm no exception. I quickly "sent out" those old power banks that had served me at home for many years. Immediately afterwards, I joined the online shopping army with a clear goal: it must be safe, have 3C certification, and definitely not be a "mobile bomb."
But during this shopping spree, I noticed a problem -
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Almost every brand's product detail page uses data accurate to minutes and percentages to boast about how amazing their fast - charging technology is. Some even claim that "it can charge an iPhone 16 Pro to 23% in 10 minutes." I can't help but wonder, how much of this data is reliable and how much is just hype? Is the advertised charging power inflated? What's the real fast - charging experience like?
To uncover the "tricks" of these manufacturers, I personally bought 8 self - contained cable power banks from the best - selling list. This includes well - known first - tier brands, but there are also some lesser - known small brands among them. Enough talk. Next, let's start the test right away at Lei Technology and see how big the gap is between their actual fast - charging performance and the advertising claims.
Almost every brand has "inflated claims." Which one is the worst?
Okay, let's first take a look at today's contestants.
As shown in the picture, considering the market share of different brands, the eight self - contained cable power banks we finally selected for the horizontal comparison are the best - selling models from Xiaomi, JD Zao, UGREEN, Baseus, Coolmate, Anker, IMF, and Pisen.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Among them, Anker has the highest charging power, reaching 45W. Next is Xiaomi with 33W, and the lowest is IMF, with only 20W of PD fast - charging.
Next, to control the variables, we let all the power banks charge the same iPhone 16 Pro. Before the test, we fully charged all 8 power banks to 100%, then let them cool for an hour. We also lowered the phone's temperature to room temperature to ensure a consistent test environment.
As for the test criteria, this time we only set one core item, but it's enough to illustrate the problem:
Charge an iPhone 16 Pro with only 20% battery for half an hour and see how much battery each power bank can restore to the iPhone within 30 minutes. We mainly recorded the peak power, average power, the percentage of battery charged in 30 minutes, and the total energy charged (Wh).
(Image source: Lei Technology)
The reason we chose to start from 20% battery is twofold. On one hand, it's closer to most users' daily charging habits. On the other hand, we want to see how these power banks perform after avoiding the "extremely low battery" charging range that manufacturers might highlight in their advertising.
For the sake of fairness, before testing each power bank, we'll cool the phone down again and ensure the battery is precisely at 20%. We'll also use professional equipment to record and archive each item, which will facilitate data verification later.
Now that we've determined what to test and how to test, let's start this horizontal comparison of fast - charging power banks!
Xiaomi is very popular this year, so let's start with Xiaomi.
After half an hour of charging, Xiaomi's peak power was 27.27W, but it only maintained this for a short time. The charging power curve shows that Xiaomi's power dropped from 20W to 15W, then to 10W, and the final average power was 15.85W. It charged the phone to 48% in 30 minutes, which is 10% less than the advertised 58% in 30 minutes. The total energy charged was 7.854Wh.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Okay, next is JD Zao. Its peak power was 25.91W, and the average power was 16.14W, slightly higher than Xiaomi's. It charged the iPhone 16 Pro to 49% in 30 minutes. From the charging power graph, we can see that its charging power remained around 20W in the first ten minutes, so it had the fastest charging speed in the first ten minutes. The total energy charged was 8.013Wh.
Well, it's slightly better than Xiaomi.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
UGREEN is an established manufacturer, and its products offer good value for money. I've bought many of their products.
After half an hour of testing, UGREEN's peak power surprisingly reached 29.31W, which is relatively high so far. However, it was only very powerful in the first four minutes, and the average power for half an hour was 15.27W. It charged the iPhone 16 Pro to 49% in 30 minutes, and the total energy charged was 7.696Wh.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Next is Baseus. During the half - hour test, its peak charging power was 19.6W, and the average power was 15.32W. It charged the iPhone 16 Pro to 48% in 30 minutes. The product detail page shows that it can charge to 55% in 30 minutes, so there's a 7% difference in the actual test. The total energy charged was 7.598Wh.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Now it's Coolmate's turn. During the half - hour charging test, its peak power was 17.7W, and the average power was 15.21W. It charged the iPhone 16 Pro to 47% in 30 minutes. Considering that its product detail page claims it can charge an iPhone 16 Pro Max to 56% in 30 minutes, this actual gap is very obvious. The total energy charged was 7.503Wh, which is the lowest among all the products.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Then there's Anker. After half an hour of testing, it had the highest peak power, reaching a terrifying 37.76W, and the average power was also 16.29W. It charged the iPhone 16 Pro to 49% in 30 minutes. The product detail page shows that it can charge to 50% in 27 minutes, which is the closest to the advertised value among all the products. The total energy charged was 8.104Wh.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
The IMF power bank is quite small and cute. Its peak power was 19.08W, and the average power was 16.29W. The power performance was very stable. It charged to 49% in 30 minutes, and the total energy charged was 8.072Wh.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Finally, there's Pisen. Its peak power was 19.65W, and the average power was 17.05W, which is the highest among all the products. You can see that its power stayed around 20W for a long time. In the end, it charged to 49% in 30 minutes. Although there's still a big gap compared to the advertisement, the total energy charged was 8.468Wh, which is the highest among all the products.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
In terms of the actual charging speed, none of the power banks' performance matches the "seller's show" on the official website. However, this is understandable. The environment such as room temperature and the working states of the power bank and the phone can all affect the charging speed. Manufacturers may conduct tests under specific scenarios to achieve the corresponding charging speed. Just because these products didn't perform well in my tests doesn't mean their product detail pages are completely inflated, especially when the differences are very small. However, it's really thought - provoking when some power banks claim to charge to 58% in 30 minutes but can only reach 48% in reality.
It's not just the parameters that determine fast or slow charging
The test is over. Let's first briefly introduce some knowledge about fast - charging of power banks.
To put it simply, the key factor determining whether a power bank can support fast - charging lies in its support for fast - charging protocols. A fast - charging protocol is a communication standard between the device and the charger. Only when both sides "speak the same language" can they negotiate the most suitable charging voltage and current to achieve efficient and safe fast - charging.
If your phone supports Protocol A while the power bank only supports Protocol B, the charging speed will revert to the most basic and slowest 5V/2A universal mode.
(Image source: JD)
Currently, the most core protocol for power banks on the market is USB - PD. It's an open public standard that mainly works through the USB - C interface and has extremely wide compatibility, applicable from iPhones to Android flagships and even laptops. Its advantage is that it can intelligently negotiate the voltage, such as 5V, 9V, 12V, 15V, 20V, etc., and output according to demand.
In addition, protocols like Huawei's SCP/FCP, OPPO's VOOC, and Xiaomi's HyperCharge are private protocols of each brand. They often use special technologies like "