Power banks are useful but boring. Trust me, after testing more than 100 power banks, I’m qualified to bemoan the lack of innovation. These rectangular battery packs are mostly utilitarian. You get big laptop power banks and slim phone power banks, but fresh designs are rare, so Nimble’s SharePower immediately brought a smile to my lips.
The Nimble SharePower is a 10,000-mAh, modular power bank that you can snap in half to give you two separate and fully functional 5,000-mAh chargers. They connect magnetically with tiny pogo pins, and each half has its own built-in USB-C (one cable that doubles as a carry loop and one fold-out connector). The idea is that when friends or family are running low, you can break off a half and share the power.
Sharing Is Caring
This thoughtful design works beautifully, and within seconds of unboxing it, I found myself pulling the power banks apart and snapping them back together again, because the magnetic mechanism is super satisfying. When it’s together, you have a compact, 10,000-mAh power bank that can put out up to 35 watts to charge up to three devices at once, with a built-in cable and two USB-C out ports. A digital display shows you the exact remaining percentage.
It’s a roughly 3-inch square about an inch thick when together. Break it apart, and each 5,000-mAh module works independently to provide 20 watts. The top half has the USB-C cable loop, a USB-C out port, and four LEDs to show remaining power. The bottom half has that pop-up USB-C connector, a USB-C out port, and the digital display showing remaining power as a percentage.
What’s really cool about Nimble’s SharePower is that it balances the load. So, if you break off half and a friend uses it to charge their phone, when you put it back together, the other half will share the power. Instead of one half being fully charged, it splits equally. This was a technical challenge, Nimble cofounder and CEO Ross Howe told WIRED, and the company spoke to the chipset provider for some big folding phones (with split batteries inside) to work out the load balancing to ensure it didn’t keep seesawing until it ran out of juice.
Testing it out, I used the top half to charge my iPhone 16 from dead to 80 percent in around an hour. The bottom half took my Pixel 10 Pro XL from 12 percent to 72 percent in around 45 minutes. You can recharge the two halves independently or together. That means if you lend it to a friend at a music festival, they can keep using it indefinitely, until they eventually give it back.
My test unit was the blue limited-edition version that will launch at Apple. The white power bank is inside a kind of jelly case that also adds texture. It comes in pink, too, allowing you to change up the look and protect the power bank inside. I love the feel of it, and the case definitely adds some grip.
The Nimble Approach
There’s a laid-back Californian vibe to Nimble, but the company is serious when it comes to sustainability. Nimble is fully certified and 100 percent CO2-accountable. It uses recycled plastics, plastic-free packaging, and plant-based materials, and it offers free e-waste recycling of its products. The SharePower is made from 100 percent recycled plastic, BPA- and PFAS-free, and carbon-neutral.
The SharePower is part of the company’s summer collection, which includes a new version of its popular Wally charger. The Wally Pro Stretch ($60) is a 5,000-mAh power bank with a 2-foot, retractable USB-C cable and fold-out prongs, so it can plug directly into an outlet. It can charge at 20 watts as a power bank, but it also works as a 30-watt wall charger, and it has a digital display to show the remaining power percentage.
There are also new versions of one of my favorite power banks, the Nimble Champ series. The Champ Stretch ($80) is a 10,000-mAh portable charger with a 2-foot retractable USB-C cable at one end, a digital display, and a spare USB-C port. It also comes in an Apple-exclusive limited edition with the jelly case.
The Nimble SharePower ($80) is available everywhere now, with the jelly case Limited Edition ($80) only at Apple.
The post Nimble’s New Modular Power Bank Can Be Shared With a Friend appeared first on Wired.
