This site uses income-earning affiliate links. When you click a link to a product on this website and make a purchase, I may receive a commission.
WWDC 2023 has arrived, and with it comes new iOS betas for the next major version of iOS. This year, one of the features of iOS 17 is “StandBy” mode, a mode that turns your charging phone into a smart display of sorts. The caveat here is that your phone has to charging, and has to be in landscape orientation. I didn’t really have any elegant way to make that happen, so I went to Amazon to find a solution. I settled on the Anker 623 Wireless Charger. Let’s start with the design.
The Anker 623 is roughly the size of a soda can, if you cut the top 20-30% off. In other words it’s about the same diameter as a soda can, but shorter.
It’s also surprisingly heavy, about like a full soda can, which is a good thing in this case, because you don’t want it to be tippy. It comes in a variety of colors, but I went with boring white because it would arrive the fastest and I’m not a very patient person apparently. In the box with the charger itself is a 5′ USB C to C cable and a USB C 20w charging brick.
The top charging surface tilts so you can move it to put your phone at a good angle.
The magnets are very strong, and hold my 14 Pro very securely. I don’t have a 14 Pro Max on hand to try, but I would be very surprised if it didn’t also hold it very securely. You have to really give it a good yank to get your phone off this thing, it seems like it’s not going anywhere.
Below the top wireless charger is actually a second charger that you expose when you tilt the top one. This allows you to also charge a second thing. I guess technically any Qi compatible device, but based on the size this is pretty clearly intended to charge your wireless headphones.
Anker claims 7.5w charging for your phone and 5w charging for your headphones, but I honestly don’t really care about charging speeds with this charger. This is not the kind of charger you are going to use if you need to charge as fast as possible, this is the kind of charger your phone sits on overnight, and even at the lowest 5w charging speed, your devices are going to be fully charged when you wake up anyway.
Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the Anker 623. It has a small footprint, which is ideal for a bedside table, it’s elegant looking, it also charges my headphones, and it looks really cool in the new StandBy mode. If you’re looking for a charging stand that will let you use the new StandBy mode, look no further.
