Aukey 3-in-1 wireless charging stand review: cheap and versatile

Just about everything these days can be wirelessly charged. Cheaper phones are supporting it, and it’s not uncommon for earbuds to be able to be wirelessly charged, too.

Here’s the kicker, though; wireless charging doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll free up extra space. Each thing still needs its own slot and cable, and that can be inconvenient. That’s where something like the Aukey 3-in-1 wireless charging station comes in.

This thing wants to charge all of your stuff with a single charging block, although there’s a catch for Android users that we’ll get to in a minute. It’s cheap and talks a big game, so is it worth checking out? Let’s find out.

Design

This charging station is very simple. On the left is an angled smartphone charging section, with a nice subtle LED charging indicator at the bottom. Next to that on the right is the charging pad section where you can lay a second device down to charge it simultaneously, and is clearly designed for something like wireless headphones or a smartwatch.

On the pad you’ll notice that it’s labelled for AirPods, though, and that’s where the catch to this comes in.

Yeah, this is clearly designed for Apple devices. I tested it, don’t worry, so you can still easily charge your smartphone and, say, Galaxy Buds here, but the third charging section is going to be very hit or miss.

The last stand isn’t actually a stand on its own. It pops out and gives you room to set up a smartwatch charger by putting the charging pad in the circular cutout. You’ll have to supply your own charger, and it’s designed for an Apple charger, so your mileage may vary if you’re trying to fit a different watch charger here. If it does fit, though, the bottom features a cutout to route your cable around to make it look really clean, which is cool.

Cool? Yes, very. This is a clever way to make a 3-in-1 charging station while saving costs. Might be annoying if you were expecting the charger to be built in. You’ll have to either use your existing charger (which might be fine for a smartwatch charger) or buy another one.

It’s also available in either white or black, so you can coordinate it with your furniture or smart devices.

Performance

Before we into how well this works, it’s probably worth mentioning that Aukey also doesn’t include a charging block with this package. They do give you a USB-A to USB-C cable, at least, but you’re going to have to supply the adapter.

Again, this can be frustrating, especially if you’re expecting the full package; but moves like this do help to keep the price low, and Aukey has managed to cook up one of the cheapest wireless charging station solutions on the market, so you’ve gotta take the good with the bad.

Since the station itself is only able to supply power to two charging sections on its own, you’ll only need about 20W of power to keep everything charging as fast as possible. It can support 10W wireless charging for supported Android phones, and 7.5W for iPhones. You’re stuck at 5W for anything else, and that includes whatever you put on the smaller charging section. Charging up two phones won’t be entirely feasible unless you’re doing it overnight.

But if you’re trying to charge your phone plus a smartwatch or headphones overnight? Well, let’s compare that to Samsung’s nearly $100 wireless duo charging pad, which also doesn’t charge past 10W. You’re getting something that’s almost identical in functionality, but in a smaller footprint and for less money, plus the option for an Apple Watch if you happen to be an Apple user. Samsung’s wall block isn’t worth a $50+ surcharge, I promise.

The station doesn’t have any problem juicing up devices at its maximum speeds, and the convenience is very nice at night. Plus, unlike some similar options, the LEDs are noticeable without lighting up your entire room like the most annoying night light you’ve ever seen. Aukey gets some praise for that alone.

Worth it?

This should potentially be your next wireless charging station. If you’re heavily invested into Apple’s ecosystem, absolutely. There are very few accessories that can simultaneously handle all three of Apple’s prized mobile devices, and I’m pretty sure none of them manage to compete at Aukey’s preferred price point, even with the corners they had to cut.

But if you’re outside of Apple’s garden, those cut corners are a little more apparent. You might already have a wall block to get power to the station, but you might not even be able to get a smartwatch charger that fits the specific mold that Aukey has cut for its Apple Watch charging slot. You hate to buy a 3-in-1 device that you can only use in two ways, you know?

But even with that drawback, this is still actually a pretty good deal, if you can live without being able to charge three things at once. You can very easily pop the Apple Watch dock off the charger and only use the stand and pad sections, and you’ve still got a very good wireless charger for your phone and headphones. At less than $30, I’m completely okay recommending it in that use case, catches and all.

Aukey 3-in-1 wireless charging station | $25 | Amazon

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