Features of the Anker 521 magnetic battery
Compatibility of the Anker magnetic batteries
As mentioned, I’ve used the Anker 521 magnetic battery with an iPhone 12 Pro Max, an iPhone 13 Pro Max and now use it with my new iPhone 14 Pro. Anker mentions in their specs, that their magnetic batteries works with all MagSafe compatible iPhones except for the iPhone Mini. From a photo I found on the Internet it looks like that the camera of the iPhone Mini is a little too big for the the Anker magnetic battery.
MagSafe compatible
The Anker 521 magnetic power bank is MagSafe compatible and thus allows you to charge your iPhone wirelessly while it’s magnetically attached to the back of your iPhone. I used and use it with various iPhone Models in a MagSafe compatible iPhone case from moment.
I wondered how strong the magnets were and tried to shake the power bank off the iPhone’s back a few times. I failed. The magnets are pretty strong.
But as with all attachable MagSafe accessories, if you try to put the iPhone with the power bank attached into a tight pocket, it may come off.
Capacity of 5000 mAh
The Anker 521, Anker 621 and Anker 622 magnetic power banks have a capacity of 5.000 mAh. Anker claims it would charge an iPhone 12 Pro Max from zero to roughly 75%.
So I did a real-world test for this review and wirelessly charged my iPhone 12 Pro Max for precisely one hour. I didn’t put the iPhone to flight mode or disabled any services I’d use during a typical day.
The iPhone’s 12 Pro Max battery went from 30% to 50% during the hour, and after an additional hour, the battery was at 70%.
After two hours of charging the iPhone’s battery by 40%, the power bank’s LEDs indicated that it still had around 25% of its charge.
So I guess you can charge an iPhone 12 Pro Max by around 60% in a real-world scenario if you charge it wirelessly.
If you use another iPhone model, you may get more than the estimated 50%-60% because the batteries of these models have a different capacities than the battery of the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Out of curiosity, I also tried to charge an iPad Pro 11″ 2018. The Anker 521 magnetic power bank could charge it from 30% to 67% before it was empty.
Please note that the three different models I mentioned before supply different wireless charging power:
| Model | Charging Power |
|---|---|
| Anker 521 5.000 mAh | 5W |
| Anker 621 5.000 mAh | 7.5W |
| Anker 622 5.000 mAh | 7.5W |
| Anker 633 10.000 mAh | 7.5W |
You may be able to squeeze a bit more out of the power bank if you attach a USBC to lightning cable to the power bank and charge your iPhone with a cable.
But that’s not what I was looking for, so I didn’t test it.
Two Way USB-C Charging
If you need to charge a non-MagSafe compatible device, you can attach it to the USB-C port of the Anker magnetic batteries that you use to charge the power bank itself. This way, the power bank will charge other devices as well.
According to my tests, using the magnetic charger and the cable on the Anke 521 magnetic battery, you can’t charge two devices at once. As soon as you attach a cable, the device on the cable takes precedence
Speaking of charging the power bank: To charge the Anker 521 and Anker 622 power banks, Anker recommends using a 12W power adapter, while for the Anker 633, you should use an 18W power adapter.
Anker 521 LED Indicators and their functions
All the Anker magnetic batteries have four LED status lights that indicate how much charge the power bank has left. One status light approximately equals a charge of 25%.
As I’ve outlined in the chapter about the power bank’s capacity, one of the status lights was still lit after charging my iPhone 12 Pro Max wirelessly by 40%.
