This new Anker Nano Smart Display Charger (100W) (B121B) — or Anker Zolo 100W — is quite literally the little brother to the the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 140W we just reviewed a few days back. While we will try to look at it objectively, there will be some comparisons drawn to its larger, more capable sibling. In case you’re still unsure on how to pick your next charger, check out these articles:
Table of Contents
Even more compact
Unlike the ubiquitous Ugreen 100W Fast Charger that goes for a more tubular design, the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W touts a narrower profile from the front. The down-facing ports make way for the screen on the front face, with both sides finished in a glossy plastic that will probably end up being all scuffed up in about a week’s time.
Now, when placed beside the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 140W, you can see that it is simply shorter. The lower output and one fewer USB-C port potentially cleared up some room on the inside, making for a more portable charger overall. According to the specifications, it is also marginally thinner by 2mm, but that’s not really something you can notice at a glance.
Really smart power split
To maximize the usability of its three ports and 100W maximum wattage, the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W gets pretty creative. Instead of the usual way of bringing the main port down to 65W or lower to accommodate a second device, it can negotiate for 95W + 5W output across two ports, if the second device only accepts up to 6V/1A rates, in what Anker dubs Dual Mode Output.
| C1 | C2 | A1 | |
| Single-port Output | 100W | 100W | 33W |
| C1+C2 | 70W / 95W | 30W / 5W | X |
| C1/C2 +A1 | 67W / 95W | 33W / 5W | |
| C1 + C2 + A1 | 80W | 12W | 7.5W |
What I find equally impressive is the prioritization of USB-C1 when three devices are plugged in. The 80W output is perfect to juice up a laptop, while the 12W and 7.5W from USB-C2 and A1, respectively, is sufficient to charge maybe your phone and wireless headphones. Overall, this is really smart and the first time I have seen such an adaptive split that not even the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 140W is capable of.
Even has support for Xiaomi’s 90W HyperCharge
Support for the regular fast charging standards like USB-PD, QuickCharge 5 and AFC are pretty much par for the course at this point, but the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W takes it a step further with support for Xiaomi’s 90W HyperCharge. It’s quite unusual to see this from a brand not directly affiliated with Xiaomi, unlike, say ZMI or Cuktech, and more so given that the 140W variant we tested previously didn’t have support for Xiaomi’s proprietary fast charging standard.
Nifty display
I am not going to elaborate too much here, as the display and its features on the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W are identical to the 140W variant. Same cute emoji face, same output indicators and same temperature monitoring, albeit the latter with a slightly different look. Overall, just a nice to have. And for those of you who want to rotate the screen, yes, there’s support for that as well. A long press of the capacitive button will rotate the screen 90° at a time.
Comes with a really nice braided cable
While most chargers nowadays will be offered with a bundled cable at discounted prices on e-commerce platforms, the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W and Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 104W comes with one, right in the box. As mentioned during my review of the 140W variant, my colleague just snatched it up and ran away with it. Luckily, I had more time with this 100W variant, and upon taking a closer inspection, I can understand why he did just that. This nicely braided cable is an ideal 1.5m in length, and supports up to 240W (50V/5A). I am surprised that Anker decided to bundle such a premium cable that’s way overspecced for the charger it comes with, but kudos to them.
Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W (B121B) Specifications
| Material | Polycarbonate |
| Input | 100-240V~50/60Hz, 2.3A (max) |
| Total output power | 100W, in multiple configurations (refer to table above) 99.5W, when all ports are used |
| Supported charging standards | USB-C1 / C2 (up to 100W) USB-PD 3.0, QC5, AFC, FCP, DCP 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 15V/3A, 20V/5A PPS: 5~11V/5A, 4.5~20V/5A Xiaomi HyperCharge 90W: 4.5~20V/4.5A USB-A1 (up to 33W) QC3+, AFC, FCP, SCP, DCP, UFCS UFCS: 33W (5.5~11V/3A) |
| Certifications | CE, VI Energy Efficiency, SAFETY Mark |
| Protections | ActiveShield 3.0 temperature monitoring |
| Dimensions | 69 x 55 x 34 mm |
| Weight | 212g |
Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W (B121B) Specs
Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W (B121B) — should you buy this?
The Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W — or Anker Zolo 100W — comes in at around RM192 (MSRP: RM229) before further discounts on Shopee, which is definitely on the slightly pricier side of things for a 100W GaN charger. However, I would say that this charger really shines in the way it maximizes its total output, especially with the Dual-Mode Output. Even when all the ports are used, you still get up to 99.5W of total output, which is higher than what I have seen from any other 100W charger. It’s also rather compact with the folding plug pins helping to further improve portability. If I were to really nitpick, I think my main grouse with the Anker Nano Smart Display Charger 100W would be its use of glossy plastic around its ports. I honestly see nothing else to complain about, so it gets our Gold Award.
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