Sonos Era 100 | $320 Though tech giants once dominated the space, the Era 100 is the best smart speaker you can get. It sounds great, easily streams from any platform over Wi-Fi, has Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 if you need it, and you can even get an adaptor to connect a wired source. Both Sonos’ basic assistant and Amazon Alexa are built in, and the best part about Sonos set-ups is you can always pair them up or add a sub or soundbar later (next Christmas?).
Meta Oakley Vanguard | $790 Meta and Oakley’s athlete-focused smart glasses feature a centre-mounted 12-megapixel camera capturing 3K video with a 122-degree wide-angle lens. They integrate with Garmin watches and Strava for live performance tracking, with speakers six decibels louder than previous models and IP67 dust and water resistance. Whether you’re cycling, skiing or running, these capture your highlights hands-free. Just don’t expect to wear them to dinner afterwards.
Garmin Instinct Crossover AMOLED | $1000 This is the love child of a Casio G-Shock and a Garmin smartwatch, and it’s glorious, combining analog hands with a colourful display and sapphire lens. The hands automatically recalibrate if an impact misaligns them and they cleverly move out of the way when you need to see your stats. There’s a built-in LED flashlight, multi-band GPS, and up to 14 days of battery life. Perfect for the adventurer who refuses to choose between rugged tech and timeless style.
Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones | $950 At just 38 millimetres in diameter, Dyson’s PencilVac is the world’s slimmest vacuum – about the width of a permanent marker. The innovative “Fluffycones” cleaner head uses four conical brush bars that de-tangle long hair as you clean, swivelling in all directions with built-in LEDs. Weighing just 1.8 kilograms, it flattens to 95 millimetres to slide under furniture effortlessly. This thing is just plain fun to use and a great choice for apartment dwellers who want powerful cleaning without the bulk. It’s basically the pencil skirt of vacuums.
Personal audio
AirPods Pro 3; Nothing Headphone (1); Razer Barracuda X Chroma; SoundForm Mini.
Belkin SoundForm Mini | $50 Finding good headphones for little heads isn’t easy, and to be clear, these aren’t the best-sounding or most comfortable set on the market, but they offer a good mix of fun, safety and convenience for a very low price. Suitable for kids aged from about three to 10, they look great, come with stickers, connect easily to any phone, tablet or Switch, last 30 hours, have a microphone built in and are limited to 85 decibels to help protect hearing health.
Razer Barracuda X Chroma | $230 If your giftee’s headphone use involves a lot more sitting at a desk than being in the noisy outdoors, Razer’s cans are extremely comfy and very convenient. They use a wireless USB-C dongle for an efficient and low-latency 2.4GHz connection, but can connect to a phone via Bluetooth at the same time for quick switching. They’re not waterproof or noise-cancelling, but they last 70 hours if you turn the gamer lights off and stick to 2.4GHz.
Apple AirPods Pro 3 | $430 Though only a slight upgrade from the AirPods Pro 2, Apple’s latest is a big step up from any of its other previous buds. Fit and noise-cancelling are stellar, there’s an embedded heart-rate sensor to track your vitals during workouts, and they can be customised to specific ear shapes or even work as clinical-grade hearing aids. They need an iPhone to work their best, though.
Nothing Headphone (1) | $550 For the person who likes to stand out rather than stick with the samey designs of Sony, Bose or Sennheiser, these first over-ears from Nothing come close to the best for sound quality and noise-cancelling, but truly excel in their industrial design. From the see-through panels to the unusual tactile controls, they’re statement headphones that also perform really well and come in at $150 less than the usual suspects.
Smartphones
CMF Phone 2 Pro; Galaxy A17; Pixel 9a; iPhone 16e.
Samsung Galaxy A17 | $350 This entry-level Galaxy offering hits all the smartphone basics, including a big screen, a great main camera, decent battery life and a promised eight years of software updates. Performance and screen vibrancy don’t compare well to the flagships, but as a low-cost option from a proven brand, it’s excellent.
CMF Phone 2 Pro | $450 CMF is the budget-focused sub-brand of Nothing, and this latest smartphone may be the best bang-for-your-buck Android of 2025. A cool design, a dedicated telephoto lens, a fast vibrant display and solid performance all add up to an experience that punches well above its weight. It also runs Nothing OS, with a focus on retro, distraction-free software.
Google Pixel 9a | $850 Though it has last year’s chip inside, the Pixel 9a feels like a 2025 in every way that counts, albeit a no-frills 2025 phone. It’s clean, durable, powerful, looks great, takes excellent photos and makes best use of Google services and software, including Gemini and other AI features. It also comes with a guaranteed seven years of updates.
Apple iPhone 16e | $1000 If your giftee has eyes only for iPhones, the 16e is a good option compared with cut-price stock from previous years. Sure, a $700 refurbished iPhone 13 looks similar, but the 16e has a much more modern chip for faster performance, better app support and Apple Intelligence, it has a superior camera, USB-C charging, and is likely to keep getting software updates for longer. The vanilla iPhone 16 is overall a better phone, though, and can be spotted for less.
Consoles and video games
Switch 2; Steam Deck; Pokemon Legends: Z-A; PlayStation 5 and PS Portal.
Valve Steam Deck | $650 Handheld PCs are in vogue, and Steam Deck is the best option for most. Out of the box it runs games you buy through the Steam store, but it’s also a Linux PC you can configure to play anything. It doesn’t have enough grunt to run all the latest blockbusters, but it’s ideal for low-cost indies and back-catalogue greats. The more expensive Steam Deck OLED adds a far superior screen and a beefier battery.
Nintendo Switch 2 | $700 Though the original Switch is still great, and the $330 Switch Lite is the perfect first console for kids, Switch 2 is a phenomenal 2025 upgrade. It plays the Switch games you already own, some at higher resolutions and frame rates, but also opens the door to more modern experiences. That includes console games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Wars Outlaws which would never run on Switch, new Nintendo offerings like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, and indies such as Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong which now runs at 120 frames per second.
Sony PlayStation 5 | $750 The PS5 is half a decade old, but it’s the best option for a dedicated home console. Aside from the basic version there’s a model with a disc drive ($830) and a Pro version with upgraded graphics capabilities ($1200). If your giftee already has a PS5, you could consider the PS Portal ($330), which is as close to a portable PlayStation as you can get. It uses Wi-Fi to stream games from the console, and is great for playing anywhere in the house without hogging the TV.
Games Gift cards for a digital store of choice are often the best bet, especially given the tendency for new consoles to not have disc drives. But if you want to wrap up a physical game, here are 10 sure bets from 2025:
Ghost of Yotei (PS5, MA, $125)Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PS5, MA, $125)Mario Kart World (Switch 2, G, $120)Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2, PG, $110)Sonic Racing: Crossworlds (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PG, $100)Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch, G, $90)Pokemon Legends: Z-A (Switch, PG, $90)Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 (PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox, PG, $90)Oblivion Remastered (PS5, Xbox, M, $70)Hades II (Switch 2, M, $70)
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