If you are like me, you probably have a desk full of cables with various connectors types. Maybe you have a snake of cables down the side of the sofa or side table, one Lightning cable for your Apple iPhone, one micro-USB cable to charge your Xbox/PS4 controller or your partner’s Android phone, and another USB-C cable for your new iPad Pro or Macbook. It’s rare all of these need charging at the same time. If only someone made a single cable that had the ability to charge all of these devices…
Well, lucky you, Anker has made such a cable. The Anker Power Line II 3-in-1 Charging Cable is a simple black or white 3ft cable that can help clear up the cable clutter around your desk, sofa,
The cable connects to a USB-A power supply (sold separately), whilst on the business end of the cable, you’ll find a single micro-USB connector to power console controllers, Android devices, power banks, mobile VR headsets, Bluetooth headphones plus many more devices that use the common micro-USB standard.
What makes this cable the business are two adapters that are connected around the end of the cable, alongside the micro-USB connector. One is an Apple Lightning adapter, to charge iPhones, iPads, iPods, AirPods and some MFI (Made for iPhone) devices such as headphones and Bluetooth controllers.
The second is a USB-C adapter, which can be used to charge a number of devices that are increasingly adopting this type of connection to charge them. These include the latest 11” iPad Pro or 12.9” iPad Pro, some Android devices, the Nintendo Switch, some Power Delivery power banks, and even the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pros.
If you wish to use the Lightning or USB-C adapters, you simply slide them onto the micro-USB end and then plug them into the device you want to charge.
This is not a unique product from Anker, it’s a simple cable design that’s been around for many years now; commonly sold on eBay or Amazon, likely shipped from China or local resellers. Usually they come with a mini-USB, micro-USB and Lightning adapters, however Anker has decided to ditch the aging mini-USB type and replace this with the increasingly popular USB-C connection type.
This gives the Anker Power Line II great scope for use with existing and many future devices, and it makes for a great crossover cable if you are finding yourself winding down older devices of a certain connection type but also have the ability to charge newer ones too.
The Anker Power Line II comes into its own when traveling too. You can take much less cables with you and yet still have the ability to charge a range of devices using each connector type.
The Anker Power Line II is a cable that you think you don’t’ really need, but in practise it makes the space around you much cleaner — free from all the extra wires there once was. It has already replaced three cables, of each connection type, I had down the side of my sofa, and I have not felt the need to charge two devices at once — which is the only limitation of this single charging cable.
I don’t think I could live without this cable. At $16.99 from Amazon, it is a little more money than some lower-quality cables found elsewhere, but Anker’s build quality shines through in this product, with its thick rubber attachments connected to each adapter. It’s a short 3ft cable, but for a night-stand or desktop, the length is perfect. But the icing on the cake is the addition of the USB-C connector, which allows me to also charge my MacBook Pro as well as my iPhone. If you’re looking to declutter your device cables I would certainly recommend Anker’s Power Line II 3-in-1 charging cable.
