PowerWave PERFORMANCE TEST

#1

Last time, we unboxed PowerWave, our new high-speed wireless charging series. This time, we’ll take a close look at PowerWave’s performance in comparison to other wireless chargers, as well as Apple’s conventional wired chargers. Let’s see how well PowerWave stacks up against the competition!

Testing Equipment

Mobile phone: iPhone X with iOS 11.2 or above, 0% power.
Wireless chargers: Anker PowerWave 7.5 Pad, Anker PowerWave 7.5 Stand, Belkin BOOST UP 7.5W Wireless Charger, and mophie Wireless Charge Pad.
Cable charger: Apple proprietary 5V 1A wall charger

Testing Tools

Digital Multimeter: Tests input voltage of the wireless chargers.
True RMS Clamp Meter: Tests input current of the wireless chargers.
Power Z: Tests voltage and current at the same time—used to obtain data for the Apple wall charger.

Test Methodology

We took 5 identical iPhone X devices and set them to charge in the same environment at room temperature, using one of each of the chargers above. Our goal was to find the full time required to charge iPhone X from 0 to 100%, and compare speed and progress incrementally during the charging cycle.

Below is a photo of the testing environment, with the current and voltage of the chargers visible on the meter displays.

From left to right: PowerWave 7.5 Stand, PowerWave 7.5 Pad, mophie Wireless Charging Pad, Belkin BOOST UP Wireless Charger. Bottom: Apple wall charger.

Testing Results

We began the charging test at 3:25 PM, with iPhone X beginning at 0% battery life. At 3:55 PM, half an hour into charging, we observed the following:

There are few obvious differences this early in the charging cycle, though we see that the power output and input is higher for wireless chargers.

At 5:25 PM, after charging for 2 hours, the data are as follows:

We now begin to see some significant differences, with PowerWave pulling out ahead of the wireless charging pack, and keeping pace with Apple’s wall charger.

At 6:17 PM, after charging for 2 hours and 52 minutes:

At this point, we noticed that PowerWave’s current had dropped considerably, indicating that the charging cycle was almost over. Both PowerWave models, as well as Apple’s wall charger, had managed to charge iPhone X over 95%, with the other wireless chargers noticeably lagging behind as charging concluded.

Summary

This table shows the key charging data at each collection point:

Conclusion

When charging iPhone X, the PowerWave series keeps up with or surpasses the speed of Apple’s wall charger, while significantly outperforming the other wireless chargers in its class.

WaveBoost technology kicks the performance of wireless charging into high gear, letting it compete with conventional wall chargers for the first time ever.

Are you ready to ride the Wave? To access limited-time-only Launch Day deals, click here. What else do you want to know about PowerWave? Let us know in the comments!

Technically Yours,
AnkerTechnical

21 Likes
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Review: Anker PowerPort Wireless 5 Pad
#2

Awesome job, would be great to see you test with other phones aside from Apple. Like a Samsung Galaxy 8 or the new 9 coming out.

BTW, Can I have one of those phones? :blush:

6 Likes
#3
#4

Excellent post @AnkerTechnical , looking forward to seeing more of these hardware test comparison posts :smile:

6 Likes
#5

Now that’s a product test! :laughing:
That’s cool!

5 Likes
#6

Excellent. Metered measured.

Do you know why the pad slightly faster than stand?

5 Likes
#7

Great informative testing @AnkerTechnical, thanks for sharing. I’m very impressed with the PowerWave stand and pad results :thumbsup: :smiley:

3 Likes
#8

Was wondering the same myself. Guessing it’s to do with internal structure / materials…

1 Like
#9

Looks really promising :smile:

1 Like
#10

Awesome testing and information @AnkerTechnical :stuck_out_tongue:

I’d love to play about like all day lol
Seems like you might as well leave the last hour. You get 20% Power increase for 33% of the time. Suppose it’s ok through the night etc

While I love it. Recently we’ve become accustomed to faster charging via Power IQ or even using an iPad charger instead of the iPhone charger.

What are the goals for this year? Will we expect to get faster charging from a wireless stand or pad? 3 hours seems long really.

1 Like
#11

Awesome information! I love these type of posts that include metered data and other manufacturers’ products!

3 Likes
#12

Its interesting to see the mophie and belkin be so different in output voltages and yet end up finishing around the same time (yet still behind the connected apple and anker wireless systems). I must say, I am impressed that the anker wireless has the efficiency to hold par with the wired apple charger. Great write up.

1 Like
#13

That is seriously impressive that you can basically equal the efficiency of a wall charger. Good job, guys!

1 Like
#14

Did you test with the same wall charger? And perhaps a tempature test to see how the charging pads are after some time

1 Like
#15

When you said, high power n speed, I personally expected better.

I want.to place my phone on a wireless pad/stand and after 30 mins (standard, get home wash n change n go back out time!) Have at least an increase of 30%

Baring mind, after a shift at work etc, phone would prob be about 40% (or less) so a quick boost while you wash change etc would be something I’d look for.

Again, why only apple X, when Sam S8, are selling more and is currently listed on most blogs as the BEST phone out there.

2 Likes
#16

Wow! That is quite impressive compared to the products from Apple’s official partners. It’ll be interesting to see how AirPower stacks up…
Like others have said, I would love to see performance tests like this in the future with more of your new products.

Also as @nigelhealy mentioned, do you know why the pad is more efficient than the stand? But then the stand is more expensive than the pad…

Guessing they will do this when they come out with 15W PowerWaves. @AnkerOfficial mentioned they would be coming in a few months.

2 Likes
#17

I’m wondering if the pad is more efficient because the stand utilizes 2 zones of charging and they overlap one another making it slightly less efficient as the full charging surface is partially blocked by the other charge coil

3 Likes
#18

very cool review and test

2 Likes
#19

Good point there @elmo41683

4 Likes
#20

Awesome job @AnkerTechnical/ Thanks for sharing the results and how you came to them. The pics look great!

In addition to testing other handsets, it would be interesting to see how they charge wit various cases such as Anker Brands, Otterboxes, and Lifeproof cases.

A lot of people use cases and don’t really want to remove their cases to charge each night.

3 Likes