For many of us at Engadget, a big part of our jobs is testing out new tech on a regular basis. Our desks are cluttered with new smartphones, power banks, gaming accessories and more pretty much all the time, and there are plenty of winners and losers amongst them. Similarly, there are winners and losers in the things we buy for ourselves throughout the year, and we like to sing their praises just as much as we do for the best new tech that (professionally) comes across our desks. These are the best things Engadget staffers purchased in 2025 that will continue to get lots of use in the new year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-things-engadget-editors-bought-in-2025-130000576.html?src=rss
It’s the end of another year, so it’s time for the Engadget staff to compile a list of the year’s biggest losers. We scour over articles from the previous 12 months to determine the people, companies, products and trends that made our lives worse over the course of the year. Some selections may be so pervasive they actually make our list of biggest winners. But, for the most part, we’re confident you’ll share in our collective rage over the biggest losers of 2025.
OpenAI
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman delivers a speech with video at the SK AI Summit 2025 at COEX in Seoul, South Korea on November 3, 2025
Anadolu via Getty Images
In 2025, OpenAI shed any pretense it was committed to anything more than making money. There are a few different things you could point to, including the company's successful reorganization into a more traditional profit-seeking business, but I think the most damning sign was OpenAI's response to the tragic death of Adam Raine.
In August, Raine’s parents sued OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT was aware of four suicide attempts by their son before it helped him successfully plan his death. At first, OpenAI's response appeared commensurate with the gravity of the situation. A week after news of the lawsuit broke, the company announced in early September it was working on parental controls. That same month, the company said it was working on a system that would automatically identify teen users and restrict their ChatGPT usage.
Then came the announcement of a new "wellness" advisory council. Setting aside the question of whether OpenAI would even follow the advice of the council, it was peculiar that the company chose not recruit a single expert on suicide prevention. At that point, it was still possible to give OpenAI the benefit of the doubt, but then information about the company's legal defense against the Raines started to trickle out, including the fact it had reportedly asked to see the memorial guest list for Adam Raine's funeral, a request the family's lawyers described as "intentional harassment." In late November, court documents revealed the company planned to argue Raine's "misuse" of ChatGPT was to blame for his death, not its own insufficient safety systems.
We live in a world where tech giants are rarely held accountable for the great harm they've shown themselves capable of inflicting on people. As things stand, OpenAI's handling of Adam Raine's death is further proof something must change. — Igor Bonifacic, Senior reporter
Xbox
An Xbox Ally X running the Windows full screen experience.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Did anything go right for Xbox this year? While price increases have also affected Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft cranked up the prices of both the Xbox Series S and X twice in the last year. It’s bad: The Series S is now $100 more than at launch, five years on.
Previously “the best deal in gaming”, the Xbox Series X/S combined with a Game Pass subscription gave you a ton of games to play, including any of Microsoft’s own titles on their launch date. However, the subscription is now $30 a month, up 50 percent. (It was previously $17 per month the year before.)
I agree with Nathan Ingraham’s take: $30 for literally hundreds of games, plus launch-day availability for major games that typically cost $70, is reasonable. But it’s still a harder sell when the price has jumped. Are you getting 50 percent more games? Not yet.
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft demanded higher profits from Xbox back in 2023. When the gaming division reached around 12 percent growth in the first nine months of 2022, that was an ambitious goal. Day One launches on Game Pass apparently dented Xbox’s ability to pull profits from its biggest titles.
Microsoft no longer shares console unit sales, but in its most recent earnings report, the company announced that hardware revenue dropped 29 percent. That’s including those price increases, meaning console sales fell even further.
Estimates over the last few years put the PS5 tens of millions of units ahead. An annual subscription to Game Pass is more than double the Sony console’s most premium plan, although it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
This year, Microsoft collaborated with ASUS to create Xbox-branded handheld gaming PCs. In that form-factor, I was on the precipice of grabbing Game Pass and barreling through Xbox titles I never had the chance to play. Then, I reassessed exactly what I was missing out on.
Despite its developer shopping spree, Xbox exclusives remain few, with many appearing on rival platforms. This year, Indiana Jones and even the Forza series is available to play on PlayStation. And next year? Halo.
Where are the exciting new games going to come from? In the middle of 2025, Microsoft announced major layoffs affecting over 9,000 employees across the company. with the gaming division being hit exceptionally hard. Cuts and closures across many of Microsoft’s game studios led to cancellations like a Perfect Dark reboot and Rare’s Everwild.
Xbox’s 2025 was bad on both the business and creative fronts. The decision to hike console and Game Pass prices didn’t immediately turn around revenue. At the same time, layoffs and high-profile game cancellations make Xbox a challenging pitch for anyone deciding which console or platform to invest in.
Right now, looking at Engadget’s pick of the top Xbox games, the only game I feel like I’m missing out on is Avowed. Many of our favorite games are already available on PS5 and several can be played on the Switch. The reverse, however, isn’t true. — Mat Smith, UK bureau chief
Grok
The Grokipedia page about Elon Musk
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
It's hard to even know where to begin. X users have long noticed that Grok, the site's built-in chatbot, is less filtered than other AI tools. But this year, Grok went off the rails in some truly unhinged and disturbing ways.
There was the time Grok randomly began talking about a nonexistent "white genocide" in South Africa in response to completely unrelated questions. There was the time it declared itself "MechaHitler," much to the delight of neo-nazi fanboys on X. There was the time it was caught posting Holocaust denial tropes, and the time researchers noted its Wikipedia knockoff that contains dozens of citations of neo-Nazi website Stormfront. There was the time it became so embarrassingly obsessed with Elon Musk it claimed he was a better basketball player than LeBron James and a better actor than Tom Cruise. It later brought both its anti-semitism and Musk sycophancy together when it stated that it would choose saving Musk's brain over saving 16 million Jews. "His potential long-term impact on billions outweighs the loss in utilitarian terms," it stated in a post that's since been deleted.
Besides the horrifying racism, what all of these incidents have in common is that xAI, Musk's AI company that acquired X earlier this year, has failed to fully explain how its chatbot went so far off the rails. The company has blamed an unnamed rogue employee, its own Nazi-loving users and "adversarial prompting" for Grok's missteps. — Karissa Bell, Senior reporter
EVs in the US
Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles are seen for sale on a dealership lot on June 24, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
And wouldn't you know it, after a spike earlier this fall just before the credit went away, sales of EVs in the US began to slump, with some automakers like Ford seeing a drop of 60 percent year-over-year. No matter how you slice it, this is bad for any company that sells EVs in the US and particularly bad for anyone considering purchasing a new one in the foreseeable future. As an EV owner, that just bums me out. Not only does this policy change put more roadblocks in the way of making battery-powered cars more affordable, it also puts a damper on EV investment and threatens to cause US automakers to fall even further behind their rivals in China and elsewhere. Manufacturers across the Pacific are going so wild, they are making EVs that can jump like the Mach 5 from Speed Racer.
That isn't to say there aren't any promising developments on the horizon. Ford's Universal EV Platform and the arrival of the Rivian R2 sometime next year are a couple of examples. But it's clear that our politicians wanted to target EVs in the US this year and they sure made it happen. So the next time someone asks why we can't have nice things here, you know who to blame. — Sam Rutherford, Senior reporter
DJI drone customers
DJI Neo 2
Steve Dent for Engadget
Barring a miracle, DJI will be banned from selling any new drones in the US starting December 23rd — and buyers will feel the pain. As I wrote last month, the company has been targeted by regulators since 2017 over concerns that its products could be used to spy on sensitive US infrastructure on behalf of China.
“What’s the big deal?” you may ask. “Surely people can buy from other drone companies.” Indeed, but the problem is that DJI has such a monumental technological lead and high market share (over 75 percent) that its absence will effectively upend the industry.
Commercial buyers have checked other (approved) options from the likes of Skydio, but found them wanting. “In one year and a half, we had five failures of the manufacturers on the list. DJI, none,” Orlando police Sgt. David Cruz told the Miami Herald. “I work for a popular UAV photogrammetry company,” said a user on Reddit. “[A] ban will set back the drone industry in the US by several years. There’s no competitor to DJI right now.”
The same applies on the consumer side. DJI’s drones outperform rivals in nearly every area including range, battery life, subject tracking, obstacle detection and video quality. It’s so one-sided that when testing DJI drones, I struggle to find other options for buyers with anywhere close to the same capabilities.
The US government does have reason to be concerned about DJI’s drones. They present an obvious national security risk due to their ability to fly over sensitive areas, take photos or video and transmit them, live, to any location in the world. And being a Chinese company, they’re compelled by law to cooperate with state intelligence services.
However, the US government hasn’t attempted to work with DJI to determine whether its products pose a risk so far. DJI made a final plea for a security review recently by sending letters to five US agencies that could assess its products. If that fails, chaos among drone users is likely to ensue.
“We just want the best technology that keeps our citizens safe for the most reasonable price,” Sgt. Drew Fennelly of the Lawrence, Kansas police department told The Wall Street Journal last year. “The technology in the US-made drones has not caught up with the Chinese-manufactured drones.” — Steve Dent, Contributing reporter
TV streaming
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison speaks during the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on October 9, 2025.
PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images
In 2015, Sling TV arrived with ESPN, CNN, TBS, HGTV, Disney Channel and others for just $20 a month. A couple years later, YouTube TV debuted for just $35 monthly and showed local CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC stations plus dozens of other channels including ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and Bravo. Streaming TV had arrived. It was here to unfetter TV watchers from cable’s onerous contracts, high prices and carrier monopolies. Take that, Comcast! In your face, Charter! (But they’d still like to pay you for internet access, please.)
Fast forward to 2025: Streaming TV and its low-price, monopoly-free, contractless freedom is all but dead. Every major live TV service provider raisedpricesthisyear. Currently, YouTubeTV, Hulu+ Live TV, Fubo and DirecTV all go for a minimum of $83 per month. That’s before you opt for cable-inspired package upgrades and channel add-ons. Throw in perks like 4K, additional sports channels and a couple of one-off networks and you’re easily shelling out $150 every month. You’ll pay less for chopped-up live TV plans from Sling TV, but be prepared to create a spreadsheet to make sure a plan has the channels you want.
This year, consolidation came for TV streaming, giving strong Cox/Charter/Comcast monopoly vibes. Disney, which completed its buyout of Hulu in 2023, acquired Fubo this year and plans to combine the two. The combo makes Disney the second-largest live TV streaming provider behind Google. DirecTV already owns Sling TV, so that leaves just three big players in the live TV streaming arena. With Netflix's move to buy Warner Bros, the traditional streaming market is getting narrower, too. We can safely assume good ol’ market competition won’t be bringing prices down anytime soon.
But it’s not just consolidation — fragmentation also contributes to an overall crappier streaming experience. In 2025, Disney launched a standalone ESPN service (no, not that one, nor that one) for $30 per month. So far, that doesn’t mean you can’t find ESPN content through other providers. But we did see Disney flex its increasingly large TV muscles in drawn-out contract negotiations with Google. The dispute darkened ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels on YouTube TV for two weeks this fall — which, I’ll point out for the cynical crowd, was less than two months after the standalone service launched. YouTube TV subscribers got a $20 credit, but that probably didn’t placate NFL and NCAA football fans who missed out on ESPN-carried games.
Then in November, Fubo quarreled with NBCUniversal, saying the Peacock parent was “shifting content to their own streaming services” and forcing up rates. The spat turned off NBC, Bravo, USA and other channels for Fubo subscribers, no doubt infuriating both NBA and Real Housewives fans, despite a $15 credit. Of course, Fubo is Disney’s newest affiliate, so there are no non-bad guys here.
The only advantage TV streaming has in its favor is the lack of cable-style contracts and I haven’t heard any murmurs of such a thing forthcoming. We are still all free to hop around between the big three TV streamers until we give up and just go back to DVDs. — Amy Skorheim, Senior reporter
The work of DOGE
Elon Musk at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, MD on February 20, 2025.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
An Elon Musk-led attempt to rein in federal spending with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been a failure by almost every metric. As of November, it was reported that DOGE is no more, even though the initiative ostensibly had eight months left to run. An official told Reutersthat DOGE "doesn't exist," and it never should have in the first place.
Though Musk was only at the helm of DOGE for a few months, he and his team caused chaos. Adopting the slash-and-burn tactic Musk employed when he took over Twitter, he swung a chainsaw through myriad government departments, with DOGE firing workers who were actually essential and quickly had to be hired back. By August, the government was said to have fired some 300,000 federal workers, with DOGE taking responsibility for most of those. Among other things, cuts at the National Institutes of Health resulted in the end of funding for hundreds of medical studies, which is said to have affected tens of thousands of patients. It's also estimated that the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development had resulted in more than 650,000 deaths around the world by early December, with children accounting for two-thirds of those.
DOGE workers seemed to be busy, though. They reportedly monitored government communications for criticisms of both Musk and President Donald Trump, while implementing generative AI chatbots in an attempt to automate some government tasks. But for all the blustering about making the government much more efficient, DOGE did not meet its stated goal.
Musk initially promised to reduce government spending by $2 trillion, but it didn't take long for him to reduce that pledge to $150 billion. And yet government spending has actually gone up. In October, the first month of the government's fiscal year, its total outlay was $689 billion, an increase of $105 billion (18 percent) from October 2024. Still, maybe DOGE wasn't a total disaster for its architects. It was able to gain access to sensitive and valuable government data, after all. — Kris Holt, Contributing reporter
AI video
Sora 2 app launch screen displayed on smartphone
In our post-truth world, video was one of the few remaining ways to prove something had actually happened. It had its problems of course, but the fact it was harder to fake than words and images, and anyone could record a clip with their phone, made it vital to our sense of shared reality. Think about the murder of George Floyd: The grave injustice of his death would have probably never come to light if Darnella Frazier had not filmed what happened.
With the advent of AI video, I'm not sure where we go. Both Google and OpenAI pushed the technology into the realm of uncomfortable realism this year, but it's Sora's cameo feature that has me worried. Within the first week of the app's public availability, people were using the feature, which allows users to add the likeness of other people to their videos, to generate clips of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stealing GPUs from Target. Cameo has limitations, and users can restrict and delete videos that include their likeness, but it's just another assault on the truth. It's hard to see how making it trivial to create deepfake videos benefits anyone other than the companies offering building the tech. — I.B.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/techs-biggest-losers-of-2025-140000419.html?src=rss
Every December, the Engadget staff compiles a list of the year’s biggest winners. We scour over articles from the previous 12 months to determine the people, companies, products and trends that made the most impact over the course of the year. Not all of that influence is positive, however, and some selections may also appear on our list of biggest losers. Still, sit back and enjoy our picks for the biggest winners of 2025.
Nintendo Switch 2
Playing Mario Kart World on the Switch 2 in handheld mode.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Aside from a big bump in battery life that many were hoping for, Nintendo took just about everything that made its last console such a phenomenon and upgraded it on the Switch 2. A sleeker design with magnetic Joy-Cons that are less likely to break, a larger (albeit LCD) 1080p display with HDR, much stronger performance, mouse controls and a boost to the base storage were all very welcome.
Of course, the vast majority of Switch games run on the Switch 2 (often with visual improvements or other upgrades), so the new console had a vast library right from the jump. Nintendo is building out its slate of first-party games with treats like Donkey Kong Bananza and Metroid Prime 4, and the third-party support is seriously impressive too. Cyberpunk 2077, Street Fighter 6 and Hitman: World of Assassination are already available, and the likes of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and FromSoftware's Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods are on the way.
The Switch 2 is an iteration, not a revolution, but Nintendo didn't need to reinvent the wheel to make another great system. It's little surprise, then, that we gave the Switch 2 a score of 93 in our review. The console is surpassing Nintendo's sales expectations as well. The company said in November that it believes it will sell 19 million units (up from 15 million) by the time its current fiscal year ends in March. — Kris Holt, Contributing reporter
NVIDIA
NVIDIA GeForce 5070 Ti
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
Could things be any rosier for NVIDIA? Once just a video card company for gamers, NVIDIA's GPU hardware is now directly tied to the rise of the AI industry. Its stock has jumped a whopping 1,235 percent over the past five years, going from $13.56 per share in 2020 to a peak of $202.49 this past October. NVIDIA's server-grade cards are being used en masse to train AI models, as well as to power AI inferencing. At home, its GeForce GPUs are enabling local AI development and they're still the gaming cards to beat, despite AMD's steadily improving competition.
Clearly, the company's bet on parallel processing has paid off enormously. Its GPUs can handle tons of computations simultaneously, making them ideally suited for the demands of the AI industry. They're not exactly efficient — that's why neural processing units, or NPUs have sprung up to power consumer AI features — but it's hard to deny NVIDIA's raw computational power.
NVIDIA's AI success may not last forever, though. Companies like Google and Microsoft are already working on their own AI chips, and it's still unclear if consumers actually want widespread AI features as much as tech companies think. If the AI industry crashes, NVIDIA will be one of the first victims. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior reporter
Tech billionaires
US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025.
A silhouetted individual is seen holding a mobile phone with a Sora of ChatGPT OpenAI logo displayed in the background
SOPA Images via Getty Images
AI slop didn't start in 2025, but it reached new heights thanks to updates from Meta, Google, OpenAI and others that made it easier than ever to create a real-ish (emphasis on the ish) looking clips from nothing but your most unhinged mad libs. Now, AI-generated videos are just about impossible to avoid. Some platforms, like Pinterest and TikTok, have even begun offering people the ability to ask their algorithms to show less AI content in their feeds. Unfortunately, there's no way to stuff Shrimp Jesus back into the bottle.
AI video is everywhere and it's here to stay. It's not only overtaken Facebook and Instagram's recommendations, Meta created an entirely separate feed just for users' AI-generated fever dreams. OpenAI's Sora, which lets you make AI videos of real people, was downloaded a million times in just a few days. Google's Veo, which generated more than 40 million videos in a matter of weeks, is now built-in to YouTube Shorts.
It's now trivially easy for creators to churn out fake movie trailers, cute animal videos that never happened or viral clips of made up ICE raids. Hell, the president of the United States regularly shares bizarre, sometimes poop-themed, AI videos on his official social media channels. During the government shutdown, the official X account for Senate Republicans shared a deepfake of Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
AI video is winning not just because it's everywhere, but because so many are unable, or unwilling, to understand what's real and what isn't. More than half of Americans say they are not confident in their ability to distinguish between human and AI-generated content, according to Pew Research. Similar numbers of people report being "more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life." But those concerns have done little to stop AI slop from dominating all of our feeds, and there's no sign it will ever slow down. — Karissa Bell, Senior reporter
Galaxy Z Fold 7
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
After seven generations, Samsung reached an important milestone this year with its Galaxy Z Fold line: It made a foldable phone that’s the same size as a regular handset. In fact, weighing 7.58 ounces and measuring 72.8mm wide, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is actually lighter and narrower than an S25 Ultra, while being practically just as thin at 8.9mm (folded). It’s a real marvel of engineering, especially when you consider the phone also features a 200MP main camera, an IPX8 rating for water resistance and a 5,000 mAh battery with 45-watt wired charging. And of course, there's that huge 8-inch main screen hiding inside, which makes the Z Fold 7 both a phone and a tablet in one device. The only thing it's really missing is the improved dust resistance Google gave to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
But perhaps more importantly, the Z Fold 7's reduced size and weight have created a device with wider appeal. This has propelled sales of Samsung's latest flagship foldable up 50 percent compared to the previous generation while pushing shipments of foldables as a whole to record highs. Who knew that when Samsung focuses on creating world-class hardware instead of overindexing on AI, good things happen? Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh. Regardless, for a phone category that has struggled with excess weight and bulk since its inception, the Z Fold 7 feels like a revelation and the beginning of a new era for handsets with flexible displays. Now, can we just bring their prices down, please? — Sam Rutherford, Senior reporter
Smart glasses
Senior reporter Karissa Bell wearing a pair of Ray Ban Display glasses.
Karissa Bell for Engadget
Like it or not, smart glasses are having a moment. Propelled by new devices like the Meta Ray-Ban Display and upcoming models like Xreal’s Project Aura, the idea of wearing specs with built-in screens suddenly became an attractive proposition. And that means a lot for a category of gadgets that’s often best remembered by the fashion tragedy that was Google Glass in 2013.
However, this development isn’t purely by chance. The latest generation of smart glasses has only just now become a reality due to the convergence of several branches of tech — including improved optics, lightweight batteries and, of course, AI. Now that last one might sound silly considering how many big companies seem to be betting the farm on machine learning being the next big thing, but AI will be a critical feature for enabling the hands-free experience that you need to make smartglasses work when you can’t rely on touch input. While this category is still in its early stages of development, the increased momentum we've seen from smart glasses this year seems poised to carry them towards being a future pillar of people's core tech kits. — S.R.
Fast charging
Fast charging on the Pixel Watch 4 is one implementation that impressed us this year.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
Devices like tablets and smartwatches have matured to the point where each generation mostly sees iterative upgrades, making covering them seem boring. But this year, as the hardware review season came to a close, I noticed an interesting trend. One feature, across various product categories, genuinely excited myself and other reviewers at Engadget and around the internet: impressively fast charging.
By itself, high-speed charging isn’t new. But when I reviewed the Pixel Watch 4 in October, I was shocked that one seemingly little update changed how I went about my day. The new power system on Google’s smartwatch was so efficient that after about ten minutes on a cradle, the wearable went from below 20 percent to past 50 percent. With that boost, I stopped having to remind myself to plug the watch in — any time I ran low or was about to run out the door, I just plopped it on the charger and would have enough juice for hours.
Google wasn’t the only company to make fast-charging a meaningful addition to one of its 2025 products. Apple’s iPad Pro M5 is the first iPad to support the feature, and while in our testing it fell a little short of the 50 percent charge in 30 minutes that the company promised, our reviewer Nate Ingraham still found it a meaningful improvement.
Observers of the smartphone industry will likely point out two things. First, battery technology can be volatile, and larger, faster-charging cells might lead to exploding phones. So my optimism about this development is not without caution. Secondly, we’ve already seen all this come to handsets, especially in phones that launched outside the US first. OnePlus is known for its SUPERVOOC fast charging system, for example, and we’re seeing even more novel battery tech show up abroad. Calling fast charging a winner of 2025 may feel untimely to some.
Sure, it’s not the most eye-catching or novel technological development. But when counted in terms of precious time saved, fast charging coming to more types of devices certainly amounts to a greater good in gadgets in 2025. — Cherlynn Low, Managing editor
Magnets
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold and the Pixel Ring Stand
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Two years after the announcement of the Qi 2 wireless charging standard and its support of magnetic attachment accessories (a la Apple’s MagSafe), we’re finally seeing one of the more mainstream Android devices adopt it. In 2025, Google became the first Android phone maker that’s not HMD to do so, bringing such magnetic capabilities to the Pixel 10 series. It also introduced Pixelsnap — its own version of a MagSafe accessory ecosystem, including a slim puck with a fold-out kickstand that you can snap onto a phone.
I love the Pixel Ring Stand and make sure to bring it with me whenever I can. It works perfectly with my iPhone 17 Pro, and has a compact footprint that makes it easy to take anywhere. Of course, it’s not the first of its kind — Case-Mate and PopSocket, among others, already make similar products but they’re either pricier or rated poorly.
But it’s not just Google that made a magnetic accessory I unexpectedly adored. When reports of Apple’s Crossbody Strap first trickled out, I was underwhelmed. Who cares about a crossbody strap for an iPhone? But when I was presented with one to try at the iPhone 17 launch event, my cynicism quickly melted into desire.
Setting aside the convenience of having your phone on your person when you don’t have pockets or a purse, the way magnets play a part here also won me over. To adjust the length of the straps, you just separate the two overlapping pieces that stick together magnetically, move them along each other till you’re satisfied with the length and let them snap back in place.
I’m sure Apple isn’t the first to make a crossbody strap accessory for iPhones, nor is it the first to use magnets to adjust such straps. But like many Redditors, I’ve slowly come to realize the differences between those products and the Crossbody Strap for iPhone 17. It’s far from perfect, but in 2025 it was another implementation of magnets in tech that caught my attention and brought convenience to my life. — C.L.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/techs-biggest-winners-of-2025-180000177.html?src=rss
PC gamers have almost too many options when it comes to titles to play, which is a great problem to have. With decades of games to choose from (and the first port of call for most indie titles, too), the options are endless. You also get the perks of (nearly always flawless) backward compatibility and console-beating graphical performance — if you've got the coin for it when you’re building your perfect kit or picking up a high-powered gaming laptop.
The whole idea of what a gaming PC is and where you can play it is shifting, too, with the rise of handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck. We've tried to be broad with our recommendations here on purpose; here are the best PC games you can play right now.
Whether you’re into shooters, fighting games or immersive RPGs, there’s something for every Xbox owner out there. While Microsoft’s first-party output has been a bit slim lately, the company has been on a tear acquiring the likes of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, as well as pumping up the amount of worthwhile titles in its Game Pass subscription service. The result is a plethora of games to choose from, which can be either a blessing or a curse for the indecisive gamer.
To make life a bit easier, we’ve highlighted some of the best titles available on the Xbox Series X and S (some of which are also playable on older Xbox One systems). We’ve chosen a mix of old and new titles, but given the hundreds of hours we’ve put into these games, we can guarantee they’re well worth your time.
Got a PlayStation 5 but not sure what to play next? With the massive library available, it’s easy to get a little lost scrolling through titles. From award-winning adventures to intense action RPG experiences, there’s a world of incredible games to explore. You’ve got options across every genre, whether you’re into fast-paced shooters, immersive stories that will suck you in for hours, like Elden Ring, or epic multiplayer challenges. And let’s not forget those exclusive gems that make the PS5 shine, like Demon’s Souls or the latest Final Fantasy installment.
Even if you’re a seasoned gamer, sometimes you just need a little inspiration to dive back into the console and discover new worlds. Whether you’re after complex game modes that push your skills or just want a taste of that next-gen power, these PS5 games will give you plenty of reasons to keep your controller close. So, if you’re ready for the ultimate adventure (or maybe just an excuse to escape for a while), we’ve got some suggestions that will keep the boredom at bay.
The food coma may be strong right now, but it’s wise to check out the internet for the best Thanksgiving Black Friday deals you can get this year. With Black Friday no longer being a one-day affair, that means you can find excellent discounts online even on Thanksgiving when all brick-and-mortar locations are closed. It’s also wise to shop early for anything you think might sell out — that category typically includes a lot of tech, like AirPods, game consoles, new video games and more. Check out our curated list of the best Thanksgiving deals you can get right now below.
Best Thanksgiving Black Friday deals
Apple AirPods Pro 3 for $220 ($29 off): Apple's latest flagship wireless earbuds are the ones to get if you have an iPhone and any other Apple gear. They have improved sound quality, impressive ANC improvements, extra features like Live Translation and even better battery life. Most other AirPods are also on sale, including the AirPods 4 and AirPods Max.
iPad A16 for $274 (21 percent off): The entry level iPad doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, but that didn’t bother us when we reviewed the new slate. We found the speed to be plenty for what most people need an iPad for: casual gaming, streaming, browsing, answering some emails. We wish the display was laminated and had some anti-glare coating. But this is the lowest-priced way to get your hands on a current-model iPad. Also at Walmart, Target and Best Buy.
Disney+ Hulu bundle — $60 for one year: The Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) bundle is on sale for $5 per month for one year (for a total of $60) through December 1. New and eligible returning subscribers can take advantage of this deal, and considering the bundle typically costs $13 per month, this deal represents more than a 50 percent discount on the standard monthly price.
Apple TV+ — 6 months for $36: Apple TV+ is offering six months of access for only $36 for Black Friday, which comes out to a discounted price of $6 per month for the six-month period. The deal is live now for new and eligible returning subscribers and runs through December 1, giving you a chance to stream shows like Silo, The Morning Show and For All Mankind for less. The biggest caveat to the deal is that you must subscribe directly through Apple and not through a third-party service.
Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle for $499: Black Friday Nintendo sales were announced and, unsurprisingly, there aren't many true deals out there this year. There are no straight discounts on the Switch 2 console, so your best bet is to pick up a bundle that saves you some cash on a Switch 2 game. One of the best is the Mario Kart Wold bundle, but Pokémon fans should consider the Pokémon Legends: Z-A bundle, too. Also available at Walmart.
Amazon Smart Plug for $13 (48 percent off): Those who use Alexa often will get the most out of this smart plug. We like that it's super simple to set up and can turn almost anything with an on-off switch "smart," allowing you to control it via your phone or with Alexa voice commands.
Philips fabric shaver for $13 (32 percent off): Consider this the Black Friday tech deal you didn't know you needed. If you have shirts, sweaters, pants, even blankets that have pilled over time, this handy little fabric shaver can get them looking more like new again. I bought this on a whim after wishing I could refresh some of my most-loved wardrobe staples without spending hours pulling pills off myself. Philips' fabric shaver has delivered and then some, and my clothes look much fresher than before.
Meta Quest 3S VR headset for $250 ($50 off): We consider this to be the best VR headset for newbies or those on a budget. It's comfortable to wear for long sessions, has solid performance, comes with excellent controllers and you'll have access to a large app library with it.
Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones for $248 ($158 off): While the new XM6 headphones have replaced these as Sony's flagship cans, that doesn't mean the XM5 aren't worth buying. They were our top pick for the best wireless headphones for years before the XM6 came around, and they still have excellent ANC, great sound quality, long battery life, a comfortable fit and handy extra features like multipoint connectivity.
Anker Laptop Power Bank (25K, 100W) for $88 (35 percent off): A top pick in our guide to the best power banks, this Anker brick is kind of a one-and-done device. It has enough capacity to charge all sorts of devices from smartphones to laptops to handheld gaming consoles, and it has two built-in USB-C cables so you don't even have to remember to bring your own to use it. Also available at Anker.
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The Nintendo Switch remains one of the most versatile consoles you can own, offering a huge library of games that fit almost any play style. Whether you’re gaming on the go with a Switch Lite, relaxing at home with the OLED model or trying out the new Switch 2, most titles play seamlessly across the lineup. That flexibility makes the Switch family perfect for casual players and longtime fans alike.
If you’ve upgraded to the Switch 2, most of your favorite games should still work just fine. Nintendo has published a full list of compatible games, which also notes a few titles with known issues currently being reviewed. To make the move to your new console even easier, Nintendo’s transfer guide walks you through how to migrate all your existing data and saves.
We’ve rounded up the best Nintendo Switch 2 games available right now, including classics and newer releases that make the most of the system’s hybrid design. Whether you’re exploring massive open worlds, diving into indie favorites or competing with friends online, there’s something here for every kind of player.
Now that the Switch 2 is readily available (mostly), you may be equally as excited to kit out your new console with the right accessories as you are to dive into Mario Kart World. Not only can the right accessories make it easier and more fun to play all of the games you love, but they can also make your gaming experience better in different environments, be it on the couch, in an airplane or in the car. We're excited to get our hands on some of the newest Switch 2 accessories (more on those below), but plenty of our favorite classics are compatible with the Switch 2 as well as older versions of the console. These are our current favorite Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, and we'll add to this list over time as we test out new gear.
Best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories
More Nintendo Switch 2 accessories
Nintendo announced a bunch of new accessories when it revealed the Switch 2 earlier this year. Key among them are a new Switch 2 Pro controller, Switch 2 camera, an all-in-one carrying case and more. Our staff will be testing out a bunch of these accessories, and we'll keep our favorites list up to date as we do so. If you're interested in picking any of those new Switch 2 accessories up, you can find them at a variety of retailers:
We at Engadget spend a lot of time thinking about the best tech gifts for anyone and everyone in your life. But during that process, we often can’t help but think about the things we’d like to receive as gifts. We encourage everyone to treat themselves in some way while scrambling to find gifts for those they love, and it’s about time we take our own advice. Here, we’ve compiled a list of gadgets on our staffers’ wish lists with the hope that it may inspire you to splurge a bit on yourself this year.
