{"id":197917,"date":"2025-12-23T11:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/197917\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T11:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:04:12","slug":"meet-the-best-tech-of-2025-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/197917\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Best Tech of 2025 Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

The results for our first Readers\u2019 Choice Awards<\/a> are in. We asked you guys to vote for your favorite tech, and you delivered. The winners are both surprising and not so surprising. Over 1,100 people cast their votes in 18 product categories to crown the best of the very best gadgets released in 2025.<\/p>\n

Scroll down to see all the winners\u2014chosen by you all. To see how the Readers\u2019 Choice winners compared to the Consumer Tech team\u2019s top picks, check out our Best Tech of 2025 Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you didn\u2019t get a chance to vote, you can still tell us what your favorite phone, laptop, gaming gear, smart home device\u2014or any gadget, software, or service, actually\u2014was in 2025 in the comments section. The whole point of a Readers\u2019 Choice Awards is to see what our readers like the most. Try to keep it civil down there! Everyone is entitled to their own tech preferences.<\/p>\n

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Gizmodo may earn an affiliate commission.<\/p>\n

Best Phones<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n iPhone 17 Pro \/ 17 Pro Max\n <\/p>\n

You guys have spoken and the best iPhone this year is the one that maxes out every feature. The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max have the longest battery life, best cameras, brightest screens, and the most powerful performance that Apple offers. It might even be overkill for most people.<\/p>\n

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Buy at Apple<\/a>
\n Buy at Best Buy<\/a><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7\n <\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t get thinner, but Samsung did stretch the cover screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 7 to wrap around the dual cameras. The result is flip-style foldable that lets you see more at a glance without having to open it up.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Buy at Amazon<\/a>
\n Buy at Samsung<\/a><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7\n <\/p>\n

Samsung\u2019s Galaxy Z Fold 7 rightfully took the top spot for the best foldable of the year for good reason: It\u2019s a massive leap from the Z Fold 6 in terms of slimming down its footprint and feeling like a regular phone when folded up.<\/p>\n

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Buy at Amazon<\/a>
\n Buy at Samsung<\/a><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Google Pixel 10 Pro\n <\/p>\n

Google\u2019s Pixel 10 Pro (and 10 Pro XL) offers the cleanest, most stock version of Android available. Not to mention, Google\u2019s pushed forward by adding Gemini in more places with \u201cagentic\u201d features like Magic Cue to help surface information from your apps at the right time and place, and generative actions like enhancing 100x zoom photos.<\/p>\n

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Best Tablets<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n iPad Pro (M5)\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019s rarely a contest when it comes to tablets and Apple didn\u2019t miss with the iPad Pro (M5). With a jawdropping tandem OLED display and desktop-class performance, the iPad Pro (M5) was the undisputed tablet king.<\/p>\n

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\"An<\/p>\n

\n Kindle Scribe Colorsoft\n <\/p>\n

With its late-year launch, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft just barely qualified. And yet, Amazon\u2019s first color e-reader with pen support pulled ahead of the rest. That\u2019s the power of the Kindle platform\u2014it\u2019s hard to leave once you\u2019ve gone all-in.<\/p>\n

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Best Laptops<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n MacBook Pro (M5)\n <\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip was a no-brainer. A tried-and-true design with plenty of ports, a great mini LED display, and a more powerful performance from the M5 silicon, the refreshed MacBook Pro is a reliable laptop that \u201cjust works\u201d for most situations, so long as it\u2019s not hardcore gaming.<\/p>\n

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\"An<\/p>\n

\n Alienware 16 Area-51\n <\/p>\n

If you do want to game on your laptop, the Alienware 16 Area-51 is the way to go. This 16-inch beast has top specs, including an Intel Core i9 CPU, Nvidia RTX 5070 or 5080 GPU, a 240Hz refresh rate, and a plethora of ports ensuring you won\u2019t need any dongles. And yes, it runs games very well.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Best Gaming<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Asus ROG Xbox Ally X\n <\/p>\n

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X may not be officially made by Microsoft, but it\u2019s proven to be quite the powerful handheld for playing most PC games and supported Xbox titles. It could be a preview of what\u2019s to come if Microsoft does launch its own handheld in the future.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Best Audio<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n AirPods Pro 3\n <\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s iconic wireless earbuds destroyed the competition. With even better active noise cancellation, a built-in heart sensor for workouts, and real-time translation, AirPods Pro 3 skated to an easy win.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Sony WH-1000XM6\n <\/p>\n

The king of over-ear headphones with active noise cancellation didn\u2019t rest on its laurels. Proving once again that Sony does ANC wireless headphones best, the WH-1000XM6 improved with even better sound, stronger ANC, and greater comfort.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Bose SoundLink Plus\n <\/p>\n

There are many portable wireless speakers released every year, but the Bose SoundLink Plus stood out for its full and bass-heavy sound and great volume. The sleek colorways only added to its appeal.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Best Camera<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Canon EOS R6 Mark III\n <\/p>\n

The EOS R6 Mark III leveled-up over its predecessor with a few notable upgrades: a higher-resolution 32-megapixel sensor, 7K-resolution and 4K-resolution 120 fps video recording, and a CFexpress card slot for faster data transfer speeds. It\u2019s the perfect camera for creators looking to ramp up their production quality.<\/p>\n

Best Wearables<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Apple Watch Ultra 3\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that the most popular smartwatch is the Apple Watch Ultra 3\u2014the biggest, longest-lasting, and most durable smartwatch for iPhones. The Ultra 3 adds built-in 5G and satellite connectivity for when you really have to go touch grass.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 AI Glasses\n <\/p>\n

With twice the battery life and improved video recording compared to the previous model, the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 AI Glasses didn\u2019t have to do much to impress. Smart glasses with screens like the Meta Ray-Ban Display may be the future, but as it stands, maybe we don\u2019t need notifications in our eyes just yet.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Best Smart Home<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Nest Cam Outdoor (2025)\n <\/p>\n

Our reviewer was not impressed with Gemini\u2019s hallucinating notification summaries or the fact that you have to pay a subscription fee for the better AI features. However, it\u2019s clear that AI\u2014specifically computer vision\u2014 is something that\u2019ll become standard in home security cameras. The summaries just need to become more accurate.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n Roborock Saros Z70\n <\/p>\n

The Roborock Saros Z70 was not bug-free when it launched and its robotic limb for grabbing objects was hit or miss. That being said, you guys saw this robotic dust buster as innovative, even if the execution wasn\u2019t perfect.<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n TP-Link Archer BE9700\n <\/p>\n

Wi-Fi 7 may not be commonplace just yet, but if you\u2019re an early adopter and want one of the fastest and most reliable routers to connect all your devices to the internet, the TP-Link Tri-Band BE9700 does the job without issues, while offering tons of settings to tweak. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The results for our first Readers\u2019 Choice Awards are in. We asked you guys to vote for your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[48,25023,342,111,139,69,9510,122051,1548,871,145,3492],"class_list":{"0":"post-197917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-laptops","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-pc","15":"tag-revie","16":"tag-smart-home","17":"tag-smartphones","18":"tag-technology","19":"tag-wearables"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}