USB chargers have a number of different standards and picking the wrong charger can make charging slow for your devices. Here is a quick breakdown of the common charging standards.
USB
The table below describes the different power deliveries of standard USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and USB-C.
Standard | Voltage | Current | Wattage |
|---|---|---|---|
USB 2.0 Low Power Devices | 5V | 100mA | 0.5W |
USB 3.0 Low Power Devices | 5V | 150mA | 0.75W |
USB 2.0 Higher Power Devices | 5V | 500mA | 2.5W |
USB 3.0 Higher Power Devices | 5V | 900mA | 4.5W |
Battery Charging 1.2 | 5V | 1.5A | 7.5W |
Single Lane USB 3.0 | 5V | 1.5A | 7.5W |
USB-C Single Lane | 5V | 1.5A | 7.5W |
USB-C Multi Lane | 5V | 3A | 15W |
USB PD
With the introduction of USB-C Power Delivery, the device can talk to the power supply and choose which voltage and current is needed.
This means that with PD 1.0, this meant 5 fixed profiles that offered 5V at 2A, 12V at 1.5A, 15V at 3A, 20V at 3A and 20V at 5A (provided a 100W cable is used)
With PD 2.0, something called Programmable Power Supply was introduced where the current could be varied.
With PD 3.1 introduced in 2021, this offered 3 more profiles to give 28V, 36V and 48V at up to 5A (only if a 240W capable cable was used)
With PD3.2, the voltage can be varied as well as the current to offer a smoother power delivery. Support for dead battery detection and bidirectional power has also been added.
QC
Prior to USB PD, Qualcomm introduced their Qualcomm Quick Charge (QC) to charge from 0% to 80% in 35 minutes using a QC capable charger for Android phones with Snapdragon processors.
These were popular for the Samsung S8-S10, Note 4-9 and the LG G4-V50 series.
QC delivered 5V at up to 4A.
Power IQ
Anker’s proprietary charging Power IQ or PIQ used technology to intelligently choose what charging rate was required.
Power IQ 1 (2014) could deliver up to 12W at 5V to devices with microUSB or Apple Lightning connectors.
PowerIQ 2.0 (2017) uses adaptive power to deliver up to 18W at 5V, 9V or 12V.
PowerIQ 3.0 (2019) embraced USB PD 3.0 to deliver up to 100W using USB-C and USB-C to Lightning connectors.
PowerIQ 4.0 embraces USB PD 3.1
