Belkin Vs. Anker: Which iPhone Charging Station Is Best?

Keeping all of our devices charged up can be a real hassle. Gone are the days when we only had to worry about keeping our phone charged. If you’re an Apple user, this means keeping your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all charged. Anker and Belkin have both been at the forefront of charging accessories for some time now, and both brands offer a range of iPhone charging stations that can also keep your other Apple devices topped up. And, when it comes to Belkin versus Anker, it can be a tough choice between both reputable brands.

I’ve been testing iPhone charging stations from a variety of companies for a while now and have used all of the top models from Belkin and Anker. Here’s what you need to know. After testing the best iPhone charging stations, I have some thoughts on design, performance and more regarding Belkin versus Anker.

Best for:

• Switching between a stand and a pad
• Charging at the fastest iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods speeds
• Getting everything in the box

Skip if:

• You want the most premium materials

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Best for:

• Getting a compact two-in-one charging pad
• Travelers who want a sturdy build
• Anyone who wants an extra accessible USB-C port

Skip if:

• You want a stand instead of a pad

Belkin Vs. Anker: Design

One Brand Offers More Unique Styles

With charging stations, design relates not only to how good a product looks but also to how it works. The build and shape of a charging station can impact how you use it in big, meaningful ways.

Both Belkin and Anker offer a variety of products with different designs. I found that Anker was more willing to experiment with different designs. As a result, its products didn’t necessarily all look consistent when placed side by side. For example, the Anker PowerWave Magnetic 2-in-1 Stand looks pretty different from the Anker MagGo 3-in-1 Foldable Charging Station, which looks pretty different from the Anker Foldable 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, it doesn’t really matter if one Anker charging station looks like another when you’re likely buying only one anyway.

Belkin’s charging stations are slightly more consistent. They’re all built from similar materials and have similar design elements. Ultimately, this was somewhat to the detriment of Belkin’s portable chargers. While Belkin does offer some fold-up charging stations for travel, they’re not as unique or compact as Anker’s, especially in the case of the Belkin BoostCharge 3-in-1 Qi2 Foldable Charger.

I specifically loved the fold-up design of the Anker Foldable 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station, considering how small it was while still supporting charging of up to three devices.

One big way design can impact functionality is in how close the magnetic MagSafe or Qi2 charger is to the Apple Watch charger. On some charging stations that I tested, you can’t attach an iPhone horizontally and charge an Apple Watch simultaneously, as the iPhone gets in the way of the Apple Watch charger. This means that you can’t use Apple’s StandBy mode while charging your Apple Watch, which seems like a pretty major oversight. Thankfully, none of the Belkin or Anker charging stations I used had this issue.

However, on some stations (like the Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Stand), when an iPhone was placed horizontally, the phone blocked the Apple Watch screen. Sure, my Apple Watch could still charge, and being able to see the phone screen is more important than seeing the Apple Watch screen. But you’ll still want to be able to check how charged up your device is without removing it from the charger.

Both Belkin and Anker offer well-designed iPhone charging stations. While I found Belkin’s to be slightly more consistent in design, Anker’s willingness to experiment resulted in more interesting designs that were a little more flexible.

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Belkin Vs. Anker: Build Quality

Similar In Scope

General build quality isn’t necessarily as important in a charging station as it is in a device like a smartphone or a pair of earbuds. That’s because most people will set up their charging station on their nightstand or desk and leave it there to be used as needed. Of course, that’s not necessarily true for charging stations that are designed for travel, which may need to survive a little more wear and tear. But even when you’re traveling, you’re really only taking it from point A to point B, not keeping it in your pocket.

Overall, I found the general build quality of Belkin charging stations, like the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 MagSafe Charging Pad, to be better than Anker’s. The materials seemed a little more premium, and I liked the rubberized material that Belkin uses on many of its chargers. It looks good and feels great. All of both Anker and Belkin’s charging stations at least used a rubberized material on the AirPods charger, thankfully, ensuring that the AirPods didn’t slip around. That said, none of them used MagSafe in these secondary chargers—and considering the fact that recent AirPods models support MagSafe, that would have been a nice touch.

But many of Belkin’s best charging stations have one fatal flaw in their build quality. Belkin’s portable charging stations have a USB-C port on the back for power, but some of its top-tier non-portable ones don’t. Instead, they have nonstandard power ports that work with the supplied power adapters only. The result is that if a cable breaks, you’re out of luck, and you may have to replace the entire charging station. That’s massively disappointing–though thankfully, it does seem to be moving in the direction of USB-C for newer products.

By contrast, all of Anker’s charging stations are powered through USB-C ports. This means that if your cable or power adapter is broken or misplaced, you can replace only that part without having to throw out the whole charging station. The advantage is enough to overshadow the overall better build quality of Belkin’s charging stations. While I haven’t experienced a Belkin cable breaking myself, I have at least one friend who had to replace a Belkin charging station because of a broken power cable.

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Belkin Vs. Anker: Charging Speeds

A Tie—In Most Cases

Charging speed is one of the most important factors to consider when buying an iPhone charging station, and it’s not as straightforward as you might assume.

Modern iPhones support Apple’s MagSafe wireless charging, but they also support the new Qi2 wireless charging standard—and both MagSafe and Qi2 deliver charging speeds of up to 15W. Belkin and Anker both offer MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging stations, and whether a charging station from one of these brands is marketed as offering MagSafe or Qi2, you’ll get the same charging speed from that charger. That’s not true of all chargers, as many of them seem to support MagSafe but only charge at up to 7.5W, and if you look closely, they won’t use the word “MagSafe” in their branding.

But if you’re buying from Belkin or Anker, you can expect to get the maximum wireless charging speed for your phone in most cases. The only exception to that rule in my testing was the Anker PowerWave Magnetic 2-in-1 Stand, which is my pick for the best budget iPhone charging station.

Secondary wireless chargers, like those largely designed for AirPods and Apple Watches, can get a little more complicated. Three-in-one charging stations typically have an Apple Watch charger—and a few years ago, Apple brought faster wireless charging to the Apple Watch. Generally speaking, both Belkin’s and Anker’s newer charging stations support this faster wireless charging. However, some of their older products still only support the slower wireless charging speeds offered by older Apple Watch models. Usually they’ll advertise it if they support the faster Apple Watch charging, though sometimes it’s hidden in the fine print.

Finally, most three-in-one charging stations offer a second Qi wireless charger. However, this charger is usually designed specifically for a device like AirPods. As a result, these secondary Qi charging pads almost never support fast charging speeds. In fact, they rarely get faster than 5W. This is perfectly fine for charging AirPods. In fact, it’s the fastest that AirPods can charge. But if you want to use that second Qi charging pad to charge larger devices, like a second smartphone, be aware of the fact that charging speeds will be limited. A phone will still fully charge overnight, though.

When it comes to charging speeds, Belkin and Anker are more or less equal. Both offer up to 15W from their main chargers and support fast Apple Watch charging on their newer charging stations. Both generally also offer 5W charging on the secondary Qi chargers designed for smaller products like AirPods.

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Belkin Vs. Anker: Price

You Don’t Need To Overspend For Quality Charging

Generally speaking, you can expect to pay around $100 to $150 for a top-tier three-in-one charging station that supports your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. Overall, however, Anker seems to be a little more affordable than Belkin, at least for the flagship charging stations.

For example, Anker’s flagship charging stand and charging pad are both around $100 at the time of this writing. Belkin’s flagship charging stand, the BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 MagSafe Charging Stand, is $140, while its flagship charging pad, the BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 MagSafe Charging Pad, is $150.

Prices do start to get a little more simil