Anker PowerPort Qi 10W Wireless Charger
Bought the Anker PowerPort Qi 10W from Amazon for US$19.49 (S$27).
The original retail price was US$25.99 (S$35), but they have an exclusive discount with Kinja Deals using the coupon code KINJA593. That coupon code gives you US$6.50 discount, making the final price to be US$19.49.
Some Anker products do ship to Singapore directly, and luckily Anker PowerPort Qi 10W do ship to Singapore directly for an additional US$4.99 (S$7).
In total, I paid US$24.48 (S$34) for the Anker PowerPort Qi 10W, which is still reasonable.
The cheapest I found was on Yodobashi. They are selling it for JP¥2,780 (S$34) including tax. However, if you are a tourist, you can get a tax refund.
As the name of the product sounds, the Anker PowerPort Qi 10W is a Qi wireless Qi charger that can output 5V/1A or 9V/1.1A.
The Anker PowerPort Qi 10W doesn’t come with a charger, so you need to get it on your own. It still uses micro USB for the power input port.
The blue LED lights are bright and will illuminate when you place your phone on it. This is to indicate there is a connection and it is charging. It will go away after a few seconds.
For the fast charge to happen, you need to power it with a USB charger that can output 9V. Most common USB chargers only output 5V. In this case, you will need to get Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 (QC2) or Quick Charge 3.0 (QC3) USB chargers as those chargers can output 5V, 9, 12V or 20V depending on the circumstances.
I am using the Choe 60W 6-Port Desktop USB Charger which comes with two QC2 USB ports.
If you are using iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X, you will need to update to iOS 11.2 which will enable the 7.5W fast wireless charging on the iPhone. iOS 11.2 was released on Saturday, 2nd December 2017.
There are also rumors going around (Source 1, Source 2) saying that 7.5W is only available for Apple endorsed wireless chargers like the Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad and mophie wireless charging base. Both retailing for S$99.
Based on my tests, the Anker Ultra-Slim Qi-Enabled Wireless Charging Pad, which has an output of 5V/1A, took one hour on average to go from 10% to 42%, another hour to 73% and finally another hour to 100% on my iPhone X.
With the Anker PowerPort Qi 10W Wireless Charger and using the included Anker micro USB cable, it took about the same amount of time.
Using a USB Multimeter, the Anker PowerPort Qi 10W Wireless Charger peaked at 6W rather than 7.5W. So there is no apparent fast charge.
So the rumor might be true that wireless chargers need to be “MFi certified” before it can give you 7.5W fast wireless charging. If not, it will fall back to 5W.
On my separate wired tests, using Innergie PowerJoy 30C that supports USB PD, it charges from 10% to 72% in an hour. That is using the USB-C port (30W) of the charger and Apple’s own USB-C to Lighting Cable.
Again using the USB-A port (12W) of the Innergie PowerJoy 30C and Apple’s own USB-A to Lighting Cable, it also took the same amount of time to reach 72%, that is because after reaching a certain percentage, fast charge will no longer kick in and hence it evens out.