Xiaomi's new 100W GaN charger keeps USB-A alive — but barely
Xiaomi has launched a compact 100W GaN charger that doubles down on USB-A at a time when the rest of the industry has largely moved on. The MDY-18-EW went on sale through the Chinese Youpin platform for around 170–199 CNY (roughly $25–$28), and it squeezes serious power into a block not much bigger than a deck of cards. There's no US or UK release date, but the hardware itself is worth a look.
The build
At 106 grams and 56 × 49 × 28mm, this charger is genuinely pocketable — about the weight of a standard chocolate bar. A ChargerLab teardown confirmed the internals: a Navitas NV6144C gallium nitride (GaN) FET paired with a SouthChip control IC. GaN transistors run cooler and more efficiently than traditional silicon, which is how Xiaomi gets 100W output from something this small. The plug pins don't fold flat, which is a minor annoyance for travel, and puts a slight asterisk on the "ultra-compact" pitch.
A 1-meter, 6A-rated cable is included in the box — and you'll need it. Hitting 100W requires that specific cable, since the peak output runs through Xiaomi's proprietary fast-charging protocol rather than standard USB specifications.
The catch
The 100W headline speed only applies when charging Xiaomi 17 series phones via the brand's own protocol. Hook up anything else and you're looking at 65W via USB Power Delivery — still fast, but not the number on the box. That's a meaningful limitation given USB-A's broad user base is precisely the people who own a mix of devices and cables from different brands.
The market reality
There's no confirmed distribution outside China. Youpin is a mainland-only platform, and Xiaomi's global store lists only a 67W USB-C variant for Western markets. Anyone in the US or UK looking for comparable output has plenty of USB-C options: Anker, UGREEN, and Plugable all sell 100W GaN chargers on Amazon at $49–$70, per the Engadget charger roundup 2026. Apple, Dell, and Samsung have all standardized on USB-C PD, which makes a USB-A-first 100W charger feel increasingly niche regardless of how well it's engineered.
The MDY-18-EW is a technically impressive piece of hardware — GaN at this power level and size is a real engineering achievement. But its usefulness is tied tightly to Xiaomi's own ecosystem, and without a Western launch, it stays a curiosity rather than a recommendation.
