Anker Nano 30W GaN on a MacBook Air: Measured
Anker's foldable 30W Nano GaN charger measured on a MacBook Air M5: 28 W delivered, its full 30 W offered on two different voltage rails, plus a PPS range the Mac declines to use.
The Anker Nano 30W (foldable USB-C GaN charger with PPS), tested against a MacBook Air M5 with a low battery, per the methodology.
The numbers
| Rated | 30 W |
| Negotiated | 30 W (20 V up to 1.5 A) |
| Live draw | 28 W (19.6 V at 1.43 A) |
| Protocol | USB PD 3.0 |
Profile menu:
| Profile | Rail |
|---|---|
| 15 W | 5 V up to 3 A |
| 27 W | 9 V up to 3 A |
| 30 W | 15 V up to 2 A |
| 30 W | 20 V up to 1.5 A - active |
| PPS | 3.3-11 V, up to 3 A |
30 watts, offered twice
The interesting entries are the middle two: this charger advertises its full 30 W on two different voltage rails - 15 V at 2 A, and 20 V at 1.5 A. Same power, different rail.
Devices don’t all run their internal converters most efficiently at the same voltage, so offering the same wattage twice lets each device pick the rail that suits it. The Mac takes 20 V.
The PPS entry
The last line isn’t a fixed rung at all. PPS - Programmable Power Supply - is an adjustable range: any voltage from 3.3 V to 11 V, in 20 mV steps, current-limited to 3 A.
A phone can use that to request a voltage matched precisely to its battery’s charging curve, so less of the delivered power is wasted as heat inside the phone. It’s genuinely useful, and macOS has no use for it - the Mac charges from the fixed 20 V rail instead.
The charger with no name
This one gives up nothing about itself. No manufacturer string, no product name, no resolvable vendor ID. macOS falls back to a generic label and reports it simply as “Power Supply”.
That’s notable because a charger can identify itself two ways: through a vendor’s proprietary handshake (how Apple bricks report a full name and wattage), or through the standard PD Discover Identity vendor ID (how the Dell 65W is resolved despite calling itself “pd charger”). This Anker does neither.
Buying one
The Anker Nano 30W is a capable small charger - foldable plug, GaN internals, PPS for phones, and enough for a MacBook Air under light use.
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