Anker

Anker is a charging brand: it makes the power banks, wall chargers, cables and USB accessories that keep phones and laptops running, and through its SOLIX range it also makes the larger portable power stations and solar panels that a household can use to keep essentials working during a power cut. The maker describes itself as "America's Leading USB Charging Brand" and "The World's No. 1 Mobile Charging Brand", a ranking it sources to retail value sales in 2020, 2021 and 2022 measured by Euromonitor International¹.

For a UK household preparing for emergencies, Anker's relevant products fall into two groups: small USB power banks that keep phones and radios charged, and SOLIX power stations and solar panels that can run lights, a mini fridge or medical equipment for hours at a time. Which? notes that an Anker portable power station can be charged with a solar charger, and that the brand claims it can power a mini fridge for five hours³.

The brand has also been subject to UK product recalls. Three Anker power bank models (A1681, A1689 and A1647) were recalled from end users in July 2025 because they did not meet the requirements of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, and users were told to stop using them immediately⁴. Earlier recalls affected the Anker 321 Power Bank (PowerCore 5K) in 2024 and the Anker 535 Power Bank in 2023. If you own an Anker power bank, check the recall section below before anything else.

What Anker is: a charging brand that has grown into home power

Anker's core business is mobile and USB charging. Its product pages describe portable chargers (power banks) such as the PowerCore 20100, wall chargers, charging bases and cables¹. The maker positions itself at the top of that market, calling itself "America's Leading USB Charging Brand" on some pages and "The World's No. 1 Mobile Charging Brand" on others, with an asterisk pointing to a footnote about retail value sales².

How long the company has been doing this is less clear, because Anker's own pages disagree. One page says "Pioneering in Charging Technology for 14 Years"⁹, while another, in Polish, says the brand has been a pioneer in charging technology for 10 years¹⁰. Both are the maker's own statements, published on its own store pages, and neither is dated more precisely than the other. Treat the length of Anker's track record as at least a decade, and note that the company's marketing is not consistent on the exact figure.

The more recent and more relevant development for UK households is the SOLIX range, sold under the Anker SOLIX name. This extends the brand from pocket-sized charging into portable power stations, expansion batteries and solar panels: equipment that sits in the overlap between ordinary consumer electronics and emergency preparedness. Anker's solar panels are claimed by the maker to convert up to 23% of sunlight into solar energy¹¹. The SOLIX S2000 is described by the maker as having a 15-year lifespan⁶.

The kit Anker makes for UK households

Power banks: keeping phones and radios alive

Anker's power banks are the simplest piece of preparedness kit the brand makes. A power bank stores charge taken from the mains while it is working, then releases it to a phone, radio, torch or other USB device when the power is off. Models range from small pocket chargers such as the Anker 313 Power Bank (PowerCore 10K)⁷ up to high-capacity laptop chargers such as the Anker Laptop Power Bank¹² and the Anker Prime 20,000mAh Power Bank (200W)¹³.

One maker's safety note is worth keeping in mind when charging: for the PowerCore 20100, Anker states that "Lower output chargers (such as phone chargers) will not charge as quickly or safely"¹. In other words, use the charger the product was sold with, or one of equivalent output, rather than the nearest USB plug to hand.

Power banks belong in a household emergency kit alongside torches and a wind-up or battery radio. For what else belongs in that kit, see our emergency kit guide, and for keeping phones and communications working in a power cut, see staying informed.

Power stations: running the essentials through a power cut

A portable power station is a large battery in a box with mains-style and USB outlets. It cannot run a whole house, but it can run lights, a phone charger, a router, a mini fridge or a piece of medical equipment for a period of hours, which is often what matters most in a short outage. Which? records that the brand claims one Anker portable power station can power a mini fridge for five hours, and that it can be charged with a solar charger³.

The Anker SOLIX range sold in the UK includes:

The 5-year warranty figure comes from the maker's own pages for the SOLIX range: the C1000 page states "Warranty 5 Years"⁵, the S2000 page states the same⁶, and the solar generator range is described as carrying a 5-year full device warranty¹¹.

How a power station fits into a household's plans depends on what it must run and for how long. Our backup power guide sets out how to work that out, and our power cuts guide covers what to do in the first minutes of an outage.

Solar panels: recharging when the grid is down

Anker SOLIX solar panels pair with the power stations to recharge them without mains power, which is what makes them interesting for longer outages. Which? notes that an Anker portable power station can be charged with a solar charger³. The maker claims its solar panels convert up to 23% of sunlight into solar energy, "for 1.5X better performance compared to competitors"¹¹. That is Anker's own claim about its own panels, made on its own marketing page, and the comparison basis is not set out, so treat it as marketing rather than an independent measurement.

Solar charging belongs in the same conversation as our self-reliance guide, which covers off-grid power in more depth.

Anker's warranty: what the maker actually offers

Anker's product pages carry a consistent trio of promises across the range: a Hassle-Free Warranty, a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee, and Lifetime Customer Support⁷. What those mean in practice varies by product line, and the maker's pages give the detail only in places.

The Hassle-Free Warranty and how long it lasts

The Hassle-Free Warranty is the maker's name for its product warranty. Its length differs between product types:

So the answer to "how long is an Anker warranty" is: five years on the SOLIX power station range, and 18 or 24 months on power banks, depending on the model. Check the page for the specific product before you buy. For the 337, the maker also tells owners to email support@anker.com during the 18-month warranty period if a fix does not resolve an issue¹⁹.

The 30-day money-back guarantee

Alongside the warranty, Anker product pages offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. It appears on pages across the range, from the PowerCore 20100¹ and the Anker 313 Power Bank⁷ to the Prime power banks¹³, the Laptop Power Bank¹², the MagGo Power Bank (6.6K)²² and the Anker Carrying Case (M Size)²³. Polish-language pages carry the same term, "30-dniowa gwarancja zwrotu pieniędzy"²⁴.

This is the maker's own returns promise on its own store. It is separate from your statutory rights as a UK consumer, which do not depend on the maker's goodwill and which are not affected by it. The guarantee as stated runs for 30 days from purchase²².

Lifetime customer support

The third promise, Lifetime Customer Support, appears on product pages across the range¹. The maker does not define in the pack what "lifetime" covers or what support is provided, so treat it as a commitment to ongoing help rather than a warranty extension. The practical route to it is the maker's support email, support@anker.com, which the 337 page names for warranty contact¹⁹.

Where Anker is sold: 146 markets

Anker states it is available in 146 markets⁸, a figure repeated across its pages, with one page phrasing it as 146 countries²¹. The brand's products are sold through its own online stores and through retailers; UK recall notices record affected Anker products being sold via Amazon and the Anker website²⁷, and one 2025 recall also covered purchases via TKMaxx⁴.

Availability of individual models varies. Some products listed on the maker's EU store pages show as sold out, including the Anker MagGo Power Bank (6.6K)²² and the Anker 548 Power Bank²⁴. If a specific model matters to your plans, check current availability rather than assuming a product is obtainable because it appears on the maker's site.

Anker's user numbers: why the figures differ

Anker's pages give several different figures for the size of its user base, and they do not agree:

Three things follow from this. First, the smaller figures (30, 50 and 55 million) are described as users or happy users, while the 200 million figure is described as global customers on some pages and as products sold worldwide on others; the maker's own pages use both, and the pack's conflict rulings leave the difference unresolved. Second, the figures move over time: a page saying 50 million and a page saying 55 million were both live in late October 2026, so the maker is not updating every page at once. Third, none of the user figures carries a date or a measurement method, unlike the sales ranking, which does.

The honest reading is that Anker is a very large charging brand by any of these measures, and that the precise number is marketing copy that changes from page to page. Do not treat any single figure as a stable fact about the company.

Reading Anker's sales claims: what the figures measure

The claim that Anker is "The World's No. 1 Mobile Charging Brand" carries a footnote on the maker's pages, and the footnote is more informative than the headline. It states:

This tells you three useful things. The ranking is not Anker's own count but Euromonitor's, an independent market research firm. It measures retail value sales, that is, money taken at retail, not units sold and not customer numbers, which is why it cannot be compared with the "200 million" figures above. And it covers 2020, 2021 and 2022, with the research done in October 2023, so it says nothing about sales since then².

The same caution applies to performance figures on individual products. For the Anker Prime 20,000mAh Power Bank (200W), the maker states that "the data displayed on the screen is based on testing conducted in Anker's laboratory. Actual performance may vary depending on environmental temperature and specific device usage"¹³. That is the maker's own caveat about its own testing, and it is a fair guide to how to read all maker-published performance numbers, including the mini fridge run time recorded by Which?, which is explicitly a brand claim³.

Safety notices and recalls: check before you use

Anker products have been the subject of three UK recall notices in recent years, all involving power banks. If you own an Anker power bank, check whether it is affected before using it again.

The A1647 model in that recall is the Anker Power Bank (20,000mAh, 22.5W, Built-In USB-C Cable), with a manufacturing period of September 2023 to January 2025⁴. Anker's own safety notice for the A1647 adds a way to narrow it down: "If your product's SN is not 16 digits, it means your product is normal and is not within the scope of this recall"²⁸. The maker's notice also identifies an affected batch used in products from March 7, 2024, to July 19, 2024²⁸.

Two earlier recalls:

For the 321 Power Bank, the official notice directs readers to the Anker website for information on identifying affected units²⁹. For the 535, the notice gives the contact route as the distributor you purchased from, or the Anker website²⁷.

These recalls are a reminder that applies to any brand, not only Anker: lithium battery products of any make can carry fire risk if faulty, and the right response to a recall notice is to stop using the item and follow the official route, not to keep it "just for emergencies". Registering purchases and checking the government's product safety alerts pages from time to time is a small habit that catches notices like these. Our home emergencies guide covers fire safety at home more broadly.

Where Anker kit fits in a household plan

Anker's products cover the small end of household preparedness well: a power bank in the drawer, a power station charged and ready, a solar panel to top it up. They do not cover heating, cooking, water or food, and no charging product substitutes for those. A household starting from scratch should begin with the basics in our getting started guide, then look at backup power to decide whether a power station earns its place, and at lighting and staying informed for the other essentials a power cut touches.

For households that depend on powered medical equipment, the extra help guide sets out the support that exists, including the Priority Services Register, which is worth joining whatever brand of backup kit you own.