The best power banks so you never run out of battery on the move

This pocket powerhouse may well be the only power bank you need for refuelling almost all your gadgets, with a small, lightweight design that packs in far more than you’d expect. The 10,000mAh capacity is will give you two smartphone recharges and will also be enough to get a decent amount of juice back into your tablet, laptop or headphones.

The short, built-in USB-C cable is super convenient, as is the surprisingly fast 30W power output. We used this to keep our iPad running during our travels, and it couldn’t have been more handy. It's also solid and well built– we were initially concerned about the built-in cable getting damaged, but it’s reinforced and feels robust.

We also love that it’s got a little built-in colour display to show off the current battery percentage. It's a reliable way to keep an eye on the battery level when we’re recharging the power bank itself too – it’s much more informative than the light-up dot system. Overall, we’d struggle to come up with real downsides to this, although it’s a shame it doesn’t come with a storage pouch.

If you want a large capacity without the high price of Anker’s Prime power bank range or its 737, we recommend looking at this model, which goes for about half the cost (if not even less). It gives you enough juice to deliver seven charges to an iPhone 8, and the ability to power three gadgets at once.

You miss out on super fast charging for laptops that you’ll get from pricer power banks, but the 15W available via the USB-C port here is enough to refuel an iPhone at a reasonable speed, which is all most of us need.

As well as that port, it includes two USB-A ports, so you could use this to charge up your phone, earbuds and Apple Watch all at the same time.

We haven't come across many power banks that are this light and pocketable but will also charge reasonably quickly, have a great capacity, and a built-in USB-C cable that you can store on the body of the charger itself. For those reasons, this budget-friendly Belkin is our new top pick for convenience and compact design.

It’s only 215g, making it about as light as a bag of coffee, and it's super easy to pop in your coat pocket for the day or slip into your bag. It’s good if you just want something that does all the basics without overcomplicating things with wireless charging or fancy screens. The capacity is also great, more than enough for keeping your phone recharged or saving your headphones as the power runs low.

With a maximum power output of 20W, it’s faster to charge than our previous compact power bank pick without being much weightier. It does lack a USB-A port, but the built-in cable and additional USB-C slot make it versatile enough to power up two devices at once.

In our testing, it reliably got the CMF Phone 2 Pro (which has a 5,000mAh battery) back to over 80% in 50 minutes, restoring half of the battery in just over 30 minutes.

At just about the biggest capacity you can take on a flight and boasting enough ports to recharge three devices at once, we think this big Anker power bank has to be the pick for a family trip where everyone’s phones need some juice and you're going to be away from the plug for a long time.

It’s ideal for camping or a road trip, for example. It has a 30W output, which makes it a decent option for charging up three phones in one go.

Another unique feature here is that it can recharge at double speed if you use both of the Micro-USB inputs at once, although it will still take over six hours to get your battery back to full this way, so it’s best done overnight.

The good news is that even if recharging takes a little time, this has a massive capacity – enough to fuel up the iPhone SE almost 10 times.

If you’ve looked into one of the best portable power stations for backup power at home or while camping, you’ve probably heard of EcoFlow. The brand has recently branched out into portable chargers, and this compact “Rapid” model is impressive. It's slim and compact, yet still has a 5,000mAh capacity, Qi2-capable magnetic charging, a USB-C port and a built-in USB-C cable.

It’s highly portable and efficient, and it comes in three stylish colourways: silver, blue or black. We found the magnetic connection secure and reliable, and it's twice as fast as older magnetic options that were limited to slow 7.5W charging. Convenient as it is, though, wireless charging is still not as fast as using a wire, and the built-in cable means you don’t have to worry about remembering yours.

The cable is reinforced and tucks away into the bottom of the power bank. It offers very quick speeds, restoring 50% of our iPhone 16 Pro’s battery capacity in just over 28 minutes – that’s a reliable quick recharge if you’re on the go, and, at 180g, it won’t weigh you down while travelling.

Just need a little battery top-up on the go? We recommend this little helper, especially because it has a built-in connector for your phone, which is perfect if you tend to forget your cables or just don’t have the space for a tangled mess.

For iPhone users, this is a great little power bank to pop into your work backpack for the day. It may not have enough capacity for a full phone recharge but it will restore some juice if you’re out for the evening and can’t get back to a mains charger in a hurry. It’s easy to use, and the simple flip-up connector charges more quickly than other convenient power banks that attach with magnets.

Don’t have an iPhone with a Lightning port and need an option with USB-C instead? You’re in luck – we also tested out the USB-C version of this power bank and it’s just as much of a lifesaver, with the added benefit that it can charge our earphones, Kindle, Bluetooth speaker and other gadgets.

Our new favourite feature-packed power bank, the larger EcoFlow Rapid model seemingly has it all – it offers wireless magnetic charging, dual USB-C connectivity, and a mini display. Does your power bank actually need to connect to a smartphone app for additional insights, customisation and a tool to locate it when it’s missing? Not really. But we appreciate that EcoFlow has gone the extra mile with this one.

It’s got a little extra bulk compared to some magnetic power banks, but it can charge devices quickly from its Qi2-enabled wireless surface. Even more efficient is its wired charging. It has both a sturdy built-in USB-C cable and a USB-C port to deliver 30W speeds to multiple devices at once. On the back, you’ve got a display that shows input and output speeds, plus a sturdy kickstand. EcoFlow says it also holds onto 95% of its charge for a month, so it won’t drain much even if you don’t use it for a while.

We’re also impressed by how quickly this recharges, as that’s a key spec that not all power banks excel at. Because this supports up to 65W input, you’ll find it very speedy. And when you’re using it for charging a phone, we’d rely on that built-in USB-C cable if you don’t need the convenience of the magnetic surface. On test, the cable got our iPhone 16 Pro back to 50% in a super fast 26 minutes and 40 seconds, and that was without it getting uncomfortably warm, too.

If you’re after a compact magnetic battery pack for newer iPhone models, this is the one we’d pick. It has half the capacity of a 10,000mAh version, but that’s enough to restore over half the battery for most iPhones and may be all you need for a quick top-up.

An added bonus is that there’s a clever metal kickstand that folds flat from the back. It clicks into position well and is good for positioning your phone for watching videos at your desk in either portrait or landscape mode.

It’s not the fastest, limited to 7.5W like a lot of magnetic chargers, but it did manage to get an iPhone 15 Pro back to 50% capacity from empty in an hour and 15 minutes. Once it reaches that point, though, it doesn’t last much longer, running out entirely after getting the phone to over 60%. It does get fairly hot in the process too, which is worth noting.

Always forgetting to recharge your Apple Watch before you head out the door? We recommend picking a portable charger with a dedicated charging puck built-in for the watch, which will help if you’ve forgotten to bring yours. This neat solution combines fast Apple Watch charging with a useful 10,000mAh capacity, a USB-C port, and a built-in USB-C cable – all in a compact size.

An Apple Watch battery lasts around 18 hours, so it’s not unlikely you’d need to refuel when you’re away from home. With this, you’re able to do that while also charging your iPhone.

It has effective 35W speeds, and it’s worth noting that the Apple Watch charger is also the fast version of this tech, suitable for the latest Apple Watch models – it will also work to wirelessly recharge the AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods 4.

If you’re on the hunt for a power bank to charge high-power devices, particularly a laptop, we recommend this Anker model with a substantial 25,000mAh capacity. It can output up to 165W, making it an incredibly powerful option for charging lots of devices at once. It includes three USB-C outputs, each capable of delivering up to 100W, and a USB-A port that provides up to 33W, allowing for simultaneous refuelling of laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Like some advanced power banks, it also has a display to tell you the battery percentage, input, output, and temperature.

While it's chunky and not the most portable, you can still take it on a plane with this capacity. The best thing about it is that two of those USB-C outputs are sturdy built-in cables. One doubles as a carrying strap, and the other is retractable. If you’re worried about forgetting your cables or would prefer not to spend extra on cords, this is super handy. It’s also a really fast power bank. It only took us 40 minutes to get a MacBook Air from zero to 50%, and it’s similarly fast to recharge an iPhone from its built-in cables, restoring half of the battery in under half an hour.

Not keen on wireless charging but also prone to forgetting your cords? This is the power pack you need, with cables built into the device itself.

The battery packs in a respectable capacity while still being portable, and it has both an integrated Lightning cable and USB-C cable, which together should charge up all your devices.

We used this power bank to restore half of the battery life to our iPhone 15 Pro, finding that it reached 50% full in an impressive 32 minutes over the built-in USB-C cable, only using one dot of the four-dot system that indicates its capacity.

It offers pass-through too, so you can refuel the portable charger while also sending power over to your phone, earbuds or smartwatch. It's a little bigger than some rivals with the same battery size, but it's worth it for those space-saving built-in cables.

Qi2 is the latest innovation in the world of wireless charging, and it means you can deliver much faster wireless speeds to compatible devices that work with magnetic attachment. Before it arrived, faster 15W magnetic wireless charging was limited to models made or officially certified by Apple. Now though, it’s possible to get that super fast speed from a versatile power bank like this model from Anker.

This is best viewed as an upgrade to the older Anker 633 model, with a similar design and built-in handy kickstand, but that now has Qi2 and a battery percentage display. It’s capable of super quick speeds from its USB-C port too, refuelling itself at 20W and charging up other devices at 27W. With this much extra speed over the predecessor and a compact size for its 10,000mAh capacity.

At under £40 and with an impressive 10,000mAh capacity, a useful battery percentage display, dual USB-C ports and 30W of power that you can use for the simultaneous charging of three devices, this is one of the best value options you can buy right now.

We’re big fans of the informative display that not only shows you an accurate battery percentage (much easier to read than a dot system) but also the remaining time the battery will last and how long it will need to recharge. Having this info within a single button press is super handy.

Overall, we love how compact and slim this is – it’s ideal for stashing in a pocket or handbag, and it doesn’t feel heavy for the capacity too (it’s only about as much as a bag of ground coffee from the supermarket). Re-charging the power bank itself it is quite slow – you could get a faster charging model (although not without adding to the size) and many cheaper options – but those are fairly minor downsides, considering how good value this is.

We’ve got a new top pick when it comes to exceptional speed and capacity: the EcoFlow Rapid Pro.

It’s a serious charger that’s built with power users in mind, delivering up to 300W of total output shared across three USB-C ports and a retractable USB-C cable (two of these outputs charge at a super-fast maximum of 140W). It’s incredibly fast to refill when paired with its 320W desktop charger, reaching 80% in about 20 minutes.

The Rapid Pro is a close competitor to the Anker Prime range (especially Anker’s 27,650mAh option) but it offers faster speeds, a retractable cable and an extra USB-C output. The EcoFlow is ever so slightly bulkier and heavier than the Anker, and comes at a premium price point, but both models have a feature-rich display to show capacity, charge speeds and battery health stats.

We used it to refuel phones, tablets and laptops and were impressed with the reliability and speed, whichever product we were charging. Anker’s model remains a good pick if you need USB-A and a lower cost. However, this EcoFlow takes the crown if you regularly charge up multiple USB-C devices and you’re after the best option for speed and capacity you can bring on a plane.

A slightly larger version of one of our favourites, this Belkin comes in at a relatively pocket-friendly size while still offering a mid-range capacity that will fully charge your phone and leave you with some juice to spare.

It supports the faster Qi2 wireless charging speeds that you’ll find on newer iPhones, so it should be able to refuel compatible models at 15W. However, these speeds are only available when it’s plugged into a wall adapter, not when used as a standalone power bank. In “power bank mode”, you’re only getting standard 7.5W speeds.

We found that this recharged our iPhone 16 Pro to 50% in an hour and 26 minutes, which certainly isn’t the fastest. It appeared to hold onto much of its capacity while charging but also overheated slightly, which would slightly reduce the capacity. If you’re not in a hurry, we like the sturdy metal kickstand and the good build quality.

The main reason we like this is the handy capacity and size, but we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for speed. You can get some reasonably fast charging with a cable connected, though. We’ve also tried the BoostCharge Pro with a 10,000mAh capacity, it’s a similarly capable power bank with a little bit more juice, but there are options at lower prices if that’s the capacity you’re after.