What does mAh Mean with Power Banks

You see it everywhere with power banks and that’s because it’s basically one of the most important parts of a power bank. That’s because mAh indicates the power capacity of a power bank. The less mAh a power bank has, the lower the capacity is and vice versa.

Knowing what power capacity you want, means that you will have to look at the mAh rating that a power bank has. mAh is what power banks are built on because portable power starts with the power capacity that a portable charger has.

What the mAh actually means

mAh is an acronym. “mAh” stands for Mili Amp Hour.

This is the general measurement of power that is used for portable devices because they all have batteries that are most likely rechargeable. Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops and lots of other devices use the mAh measure of power and it works well.

For it to be used with power banks makes a lot of sense and that’s because you have an external source of power that’s going into a device that uses the same measure of power. So if you want to charge a laptop many times over, then you simply a get a power bank that has capabilities of charging a laptop many times and also has a high mAh rating; or in other words, has a high power capacity.

mAh Isn’t always what it means

A lot of power banks on the market boast about how many times they can charge certain smartphones or tablets; which they most likely can. However, what usually isn’t true is the number of times that they can recharge said devices.

This is because the amount of mAh that a power bank is advertised to have, most likely isn’t what you’ll be receiving and that’s because during charging there are inefficiencies and through those inefficiencies, power capacity is ultimately lost.

Just what are these inefficiencies? During charging the inefficiencies occur with the power bank’s batteries and also when the power from the power bank is being transferred through the charging cable and into your device. This is why most good power banks should have a conversion rate of 70% because that’s at least close enough to the actual power capacity that a power bank has.

Conclusion for mAh

Ultimately. mAh is vital for a power bank, and lots of other devices out there on the market and that’s because it’s the battery capacity. If you want a smartphone that’s going to last a long time before needing a recharge, then you must look at what the mAh on the battery is because the higher it is, then longer the smartphone will last. So mAh does not only concern power banks, it’s just a small part of it.

Usman Haq

Since 2016, Usman has flourished as an independent tech journalist, reveling in the evaluation of diverse tech gadgets, with a particular fondness for charging technology to ascertain product performance. Besides his journalistic endeavors, he helms the Charger Harbor YouTube channel, where he extends his tech insights to a broader audience.