A slew of smaller wall chargers with better charging speeds are soon to hit the market and two companies – Griffin and Aukey – used the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday to show off their newest units.
Aukey’s Omnia and Griffin’s PowerBlock lineup are made from gallium nitride, or GaN, a next-generation semiconductor material with 100-times the speed of old silicon technology. They are well-suited for high-power transistors capable of operating at high temperatures. As a result, components are smaller, lighter and faster to charge, up to 70% faster than standard chargers.
Griffin’s PowerBlock lineup
Griffin has three new PowerBlock chargers based on GaN, including a 30-watt option with dual USB-C ports for devices like an iPhone or iPad ($70 MSRP), a 45-watt model ($50 MSRP) with a single USB-C port for portables that delivers enough power to charge most small laptops including up to a 13-inch MacBook Pro or comparable device, and a 96-watt unit ($80 MSRP) with a single USB-C port for devices like the recently announced 16-inch MacBook Pro.
All three units will be available in the second quarter of 2020.
Aukey’s Omnia lineup
Accessory maker Aukey is also launching a new line of GaN-based chargers in the second quarter. The Omnia Series will include at least five portable chargers with various combinations of USB-C and/or USB-A ports. Pricing have yet to be announced.
Anker announced its line of GaN chargers in mid-2019 and one model was reviewed by Cult of Mac in September.
