Marc McLaren
So farewell, 2025 – you have been incessantly thrilling, usually chaotic, sometimes irritating however all the time attention-grabbing. And that’s how we prefer it round right here.
It was a 12 months wherein usually pretty iterative enhancements to {hardware} have been overshadowed by speedy and important advances on the computing aspect of issues. I’m speaking, after all, about AI, which is now so dominant throughout the tech world that it’s more and more onerous to discover a machine that doesn’t have an AI mind.
Not that I’m complaining, because the leaps made in 2025 by the likes of OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Gemini have been really astonishing; the tempo of change is such that it looks like we’re squeezing a few decade’s price of advances into annually now, and I wouldn’t prefer to predict what the state of play will probably be in 12 months’ time. Well, apart from to say that we’ll be taking with no consideration issues which appear nearly unimaginable proper now – though as our AI Editor Graham Barlow notes beneath, possibly we’re already doing that.
In comparability, it usually regarded in 2025 as if issues have been slowing down on the {hardware} aspect. Could Apple actually make its already-excellent MacBooks a lot better? Could Samsung enhance a lot on the very good Galaxy S sequence? Was there a lot scope for OLED TVs or wi-fi headphones or mirrorless cameras to develop?
The reply was sure, sure and sure. Though the upgrades to many fashions might not have been as large as these on the software program aspect, they have been incessantly glorious in their very own proper. The enhancements to battery life, display screen tech and digicam lenses will not be as flashy as these on the AI entrance, however they will make an actual distinction to how we use our units every day. In some ways, tech followers have by no means had it so good.
Whether that may proceed in 2026 stays to be seen. AI now seems to be to be having a direct – and unfavourable – impact on part costs, which might make your favourite new telephone or laptop computer costlier within the coming 12 months. We may also see inventory shortages in some areas, which might additional inflate these value tags.
It seems to be like we’re set for an additional 12 months of thrilling, chaotic, irritating and attention-grabbing information, then – and we’ll be right here with you each step of the best way. Until then, I hope you’ve loved studying TechSwitch in 2025, and have a contented New Year!
My year in tech
I bent reality, but I failed to bend an iPhone
This 12 months was marked by astonishing leaps in AI capabilities, which I attempted to not solely report on however experience in full. From my first expertise with ‘vibe coding’ to wild leaps of fancy with Veo 3 (and later the Sora app) to creating my own digital double, AI’s fast-changing capabilities continuously amazed me.
Never in 4 many years of protecting rising applied sciences have I seen something prefer it: AI’s rise continues to be a heady combination of enthusiastic adoption tinged with white-knuckled worry about what it all means for jobs, and for humanity, and nothing we noticed in 2025 did a lot to resolve that anxiousness.
However, it was my conversations with these main the AI and wider innovation cost that stood out. My interviews with Amazon’s Panos Panay about Alexa+ and Google’s Sameer Samat about the future of Android have been significantly memorable, as was the second when considered one of Apple’s prime executives threw his brand-new iPhone Air to me throughout a video podcast and insisted that I try to bend it.
The rise of humanoid robots was a development that shocked and happy me in equal measure, although I’ve tried to mood my enthusiasm with the data that intelligent advertising and eye-popping movies will solely get us to date. We all need the final word dwelling robotic, however I nonetheless do not suppose many people are keen to pay $20,000 to get it.
Away from all of the AI and robots, I spent a lot of the 12 months making an attempt new telephones, together with redesigned iPhones and an incredibly thin folding Samsung phone, together with a variety of wearable know-how that included the Galaxy XR headset, and a few very thrilling AR glasses from Meta and Google’s Android XR group. Experiencing these felt like peering into our close to technological future, which more and more will probably be full of on-demand AI, versatile telephones, and possibly these robots.
The year in AI
This was the year we started taking AI for granted
Graham Barlow
For all the talk of breakthroughs and hype, 2025 felt less like the year AI changed everything and more like the year it quietly became unavoidable. While the much-hyped arrival of super-powerful artificial general intelligence (AGI), predicted for 2025 by many, simply hasn’t materialized, the year has still been a strong one for companies such as OpenAI, xAI, Anthropic, and Google. That said, there have also been some massive flops; and as for Apple, it feels like yet another year in which it slipped further behind in the AI race.
ChatGPT maintained its vice-like grip as the most popular AI chatbot on this planet, although it hasn’t been plain crusing for OpenAI. Legal challenges, significantly the copyright infringement claim introduced by The New York Times, have continued to canine the corporate, and in June its servers crashed for a few days, giving the world a quick style of life with out the ever present chatbot.
OpenAI then fumbled the ball with the discharge of its GPT-5 model, which got here throughout as chilly and unemotional in comparison with the earlier GPT-4o. For tens of millions of customers who’d come to depend on the chatbot as one thing nearer to a trusted companion it felt like a finest good friend had undergone a persona transplant in a single day, forcing OpenAI to make the legacy 4o mannequin out there once more.
The firm has additionally misplaced a bit floor to Google’s Gemini in current months. The arrival of Gemini 3 Pro in November was properly acquired, and on the picture entrance, Gemini’s Nano Banana and Nano Banana Pro proved superior to ChatGPT for picture era. OpenAI responded with a new image-generation model in December.
AI-powered pets and toys additionally started to appear this 12 months. We took Moflin for a spin, till we by accident fried its battery. More broadly, the dominant theme of the 12 months was that each product should now have AI constructed into it in some kind, and no firm exemplifies this method higher than Microsoft, which has spent the 12 months enthusiastically stuffing Copilot into just about everything it makes.
Finally, the 12 months seems to be set to finish on a excessive be aware for Amazon. Alexa+, the AI-powered model of Alexa that Amazon has been promising all 12 months however hasn’t but managed to completely roll out, might lastly be getting an online model, a minimum of within the US.
THE YEAR IN PHONES
Slim pickings for thin phones, and hints of a tri-fold future
2025 was the 12 months of the super-thin telephone, writes Roland Moore-Colyer, Managing Editor, Mobile Computing, with the discharge of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge within the first half of the 12 months, and the iPhone Air within the second. These handsets grabbed headlines with their svelte proportions, however to date gross sales figures have but to match the hype.
That’s possible as a consequence of their comparatively excessive costs within the face of already fairly slim iPhones and Galaxy and Pixel handsets, all of which noticed the anticipated yearly upgrades with the iPhone 17, Galaxy S25 and Pixel 10 strains respectively. While the upgrades to the iPhone 17 household appeared incremental at first look, I’d argue they seem to be a greater deal while you dig into the main points: there was a brand new design and cooling system for the Pro telephones, the usual mannequin lastly obtained a 120Hz show, and Apple’s 48MP ‘Fusion’ digicam got here to each iPhone within the lineup, together with the Air (the Plus mannequin went the best way of the dodo).
AI discovered its method into extra telephones and extra options, with Google’s Pixel phones specifically boasting a complete host of genuinely helpful sensible instruments. Meanwhile, Apple nearly managed to distract us from the shortcomings of Apple Intelligence with its flashy Liquid Glass design and the eye-catching Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro.
Some of essentially the most attention-grabbing telephones got here from smaller manufacturers, with the Nothing Phone 3 providing one thing a bit completely different with out scrimping on flagship options. There was the Oppo Find X9 Pro with its unusual however helpful digicam equipment, whereas the OnePlus 15 was the one telephone to earn a most five-star evaluation from us this 12 months. There have been additionally a clutch of inexpensive telephones from the likes of Motorola and Xiaomi, proving that you just don’t should pay loads to get a really succesful smartphone lately.
We noticed additional evolution within the folding telephone area, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 main the best way, and Samsung additionally unveiled its first tri-folding telephone, with the Galaxy Trifold becoming a member of Huawei’s Mate XT, and teasing a way forward for units that really mix telephones and tablets. We might even see a foldable iPhone in 2026, however don’t maintain your breath.
THE YEAR IN COMPUTING
RAM drama enlivens a year of evolution over revolution
When it got here to computing, 2025 did not begin off as essentially the most promising 12 months. While 2024 felt like a 12 months of revolutionary change, with the explosive development of AI, the autumn of Intel, and the rise of Arm-based laptops that have been truly price shopping for, this 12 months has felt extra like we’re in a holding sample, because the improvements of the previous few years are iterated on and refined.
The 12 months kicked off with Nvidia launching its newest era of client graphics playing cards, the RTX 5000 series, at CES 2025, and so they encapsulated the ‘evolution, not revolution’ theme, with some nice new options that have not essentially shaken up the business, because the introduction of ray tracing with the RTX 2000 sequence did. Of course, making an awesome product even higher is not any dangerous factor, and our parts editor and GPU professional John Loeffler was suitably impressed, enthusing in his RTX 5090 review that “If you’re a gamer, you’ll still get impressive gen-on-gen performance improvements over the celebrated RTX 4090, and the Nvidia RTX 5090 is really the first consumer graphics card I’ve tested that can get you consistent, high-frame-rate 8K gameplay.”
I’ve an RTX 5090 and I like it, and I’ve additionally been impressed by its 8K performance in modern games, however with nearly all of PC avid gamers nonetheless taking part in at 1080p, this high-end GPU is likely to be a bit too costly to justify. Other releases from AMD and Intel, plus Apple’s latest M5 chip, continued the theme of spectacular releases that don’t massively change the computing panorama.
Perhaps the most important occasion in 2025 was the continued rise of AI. Recently, the AI growth has led to a global shortage of memory, which has in flip triggered a rise within the costs of units that use it. All of a sudden, PCs, RAM, and GPUs look set to get more and more costly, although some, like our computing editor Christian Guyton, aren’t too worried – yet. Personally, the end-of-year drama is making me nostalgic for these early months when 2025 felt slightly boring.
THE YEAR IN TVS
The era of giant, cheap TVs is here
This 12 months noticed two actually attention-grabbing developments in TV know-how, with the primary being the arrival of a whole new kind of ‘Tandem RGB’ OLED TV panel from LG. This appeared within the LG G5, serving to it to attain the utmost 5 stars in our evaluation, and within the implausible Panasonic Z95B, enabling each TVs to hit gorgeous ranges of brightness and colour depth, however with decreased energy consumption.
However, this new display screen know-how didn’t win both of these units our TV of the Year award – that went to the Samsung S95F, which not solely earned its personal good 5-star evaluation, however was additionally voted the highest TV in essentially the most classes by the judges in our flagship OLED TV showdown, which pitted it in opposition to the LG G5, Panasonic Z95B, and Sony Bravia 8 II.
The second large tech growth was the arrival of RGB mini-LED tech – and, make no mistake, that is the following large factor. It’s extra environment friendly than present mini-LED tech, and is able to richer colours and fewer mild leakage from vivid areas to darkish ones, and it may very well be the tech to lastly knock OLED off its perch.
We know that Samsung, LG, TCL and Hisense will all launch RGB mini-LED TV ranges in 2026, however the Hisense UX116 was the one TV to make use of it in 2025 – and it was a combined bag, with efficiency points that disenchanted given its eye-wateringly excessive value. Still, we’re excited to see how this tech develops.
But the most important factor in TVs this 12 months was the TVs themselves – as in, they obtained large and so they obtained inexpensive. TCL and Hisense launched 85-inch and 100-inch TVs that have been throughout the budgets of normal mortals, and 75-inch TVs have gotten positively low cost, whereas nonetheless being good. While new tech is thrilling, enormous TVs just like the Hisense U8N and TCL QM7K turning into extra inexpensive is the change that made the most important distinction for purchasers.
THE YEAR IN VR/AR
This 12 months XR or ‘prolonged actuality’ took heart stage, thanks largely to Android XR {hardware} lastly breaking cowl within the form of the Samsung Galaxy XR headset. We additionally examined prototype Android XR glasses forward of their anticipated launch within the coming 12 months, and so they’re spectacular (the glasses a minimum of, the headset much less so proper now). Google, together with its Android companions, seems to be set to noticeably problem Meta in 2026.
For its half Meta debuted a number of new sensible wearables over the previous 12 months, together with two pairs of Oakley sensible glasses – the stylish HSTNs and the sporty Vanguards, the latter of that are perfect for runners when used with a appropriate Garmin watch. We additionally noticed a Gen 2 model of the Meta Ray-Bans, and the corporate’s newest step in direction of full-on AR specs, the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, which as you possibly can most likely guess function a show for the specs to relay data visually. We’ve examined them, and so they’re all the things Google Glass needed to be, however proper now they don’t seem to be straightforward to pay money for.
What about VR headsets correct? Valve shocked nobody (as a result of the machine was so closely leaked earlier than launch) with its Steam Frame headset announcement. Key particulars like the worth are nonetheless a thriller, however it is going to be touchdown in 2026 – and when it does, the spec sheet teases a tool that would seriously challenge the reigning champion of VR, the Meta Quest 3. Depending on how Valve handles the launch, I wouldn’t be shocked if it makes all other headsets feel obsolete – even the Galaxy XR and Apple Vision Pro.
Talking of Apple’s mixed-reality spatial-computing headset, we obtained a new version with an M5 chip and comfier strap, however whereas it is a worthwhile improve the worth nonetheless feels too excessive.
THE YEAR IN AUDIO
The year the big dogs bit back
If 2024 was the 12 months area of interest UK hi-fi manufacturers took over the dance ground amid a hiatus from audio’s heavy hitters (see Bowers & Wilkins’ fantastic Pi8 earbuds or Cambridge Audio’s inaugural, inexpensive, adorable P100 cans), 2025 was the 12 months the large canine returned to the social gathering and obtained their groove again.
We obtained 5 main headphones releases in 2025, beginning with the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds in February. The hotly anticipated replace to the 2019 Powerbeats Pro proved that Apple might certainly ship heart-rate monitoring in its earbuds.
Cut to May and Sony’s WH-1000XM6 landed, to lastly knock the 2020-issue WH-1000XM4 off the highest spot in our best headphones guide. It was the same story with the June arrival of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), shortly adopted by the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) in September – a two-pronged assault in the marketplace that noticed Bose reinstated because the king of ANC.
However, this roundup would not be full and not using a nod to the most important launch of all of them: the autumn arrival of Apple’s AirPods Pro 3. The form’s completely different, the ANC is twice nearly as good, and sure, just like the Powerbeats Pro 2 additionally they preserve tabs in your ticker, in a barely completely different method, and with rising third-party fitness-app help. Still the most well-liked earbuds on this planet? Absolutely.
Elsewhere, Spotify Lossless finally landed, without charge to Premium subscribers, providing almost-as-good-as-Apple-Music decision at as much as 24-bit/44.1kHz. While Lossless wasn’t an enormous hit with followers initially, the large inexperienced streaming machine’s recognition continues to develop, regardless of considerations over artist funds.
Oh, and when you pay attention to only one audio model identify this 12 months, let it’s WiiM. As Sonos continues to deal with belief points amongst its once-loyal fanbase, the plucky multi-room underdog unveiled its WiiM Sound (and now the WiiM Sound Lite) premium hi-res audio system – and the agency would love that can assist you construct your wi-fi sound system round them.
THE YEAR IN CAMERAS
A memorable year for glass as well as for cameras
2025 was stuffed with nice surprises for photographers. The Sigma BF was really out of the peculiar, being dubbed ‘the camera Apple would have made’, whereas the Caira with its Nano Banana AI expertise confirmed us a glimpse of how on-the-go generative enhancing can work in an precise digicam.
Fujifilm and OM System confirmed us that person expertise issues with the quirky X half and retro OM-3 respectively, whereas Hasselblad and Nikon delivered sturdy choices of their very own – my favourite stills digicam ever, the X2D II, and a brand new participant within the cinema-camera recreation, the Nikon Zr. A particular shoutout goes to Nikon for turning into the best-value digicam model this 12 months, notably for the wonderful Z5 II, which is our Camera of the Year, and Z50 II.
It was arguably an excellent higher 12 months for brand new lenses than cameras, with Sigma, Sony and Viltrox specifically knocking it out the park with world-first and inexpensive optics. Canon continues to lock out third events from its full-frame digicam lineup, however that call feels extra justified after it launched the inexpensive and succesful 45mm F1.2 STM prime.
A way of order was restored in direction of the top of the 12 months when Canon and Sony launched their anticipated mid-range full-frame cameras: the EOS R6 III and A7 V, each of that are integral to their lineups.
The long-threatened US ban on DJI merchandise finally came into effect, and we noticed a few main product launches from the model within the build-up to it: the unbelievable (kind of) sub-250g Mini 5 Pro, and the DJI Osmo 360 – its first foray into 360 cameras, and rival to each the Insta 360 X5 and GoPro’s new Max 2. DJI can be being tipped to launch its first 360 drone quickly, however Insta360 obtained there first with the really progressive Antigravity A1.
Overall, it’s been 12 months for digicam followers, with demand seemingly remaining sturdy within the face of competitors from more and more succesful smartphones. I’m predicting that the buyer and cinema digicam areas will proceed converging in 2026, and I hope the likes of Viltrox develop our choices with new and inexpensive autofocus zoom lenses.
The year in gaming
The Switch 2 makes waves, and GTA 6 looms over 2026
Rob Dwiar
Gaming in 2025 was largely dominated by the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s a secure enchancment on the unique Switch, and one which epitomizes the ‘evolution not revolution’ method to console growth.
The specs sheet received’t blow anybody’s socks off, but it surely’s an outstanding package deal that cements the Switch’s place because the go-to handheld console; and it was so common within the pre-order and launch phases that it took months for retailers to meet up with demand. It’s been backed up by some glorious video games too, together with Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Kirby Air Riders, and Pokémon Legends Z-A.
Sony had its personal say within the gaming handheld area, respiratory new life into the PlayStation Portal handheld machine, which is now able to glorious cloud streaming. This has elevated the hand held, which we have been already large followers of, to spectacular new heights.
The PS5’s recreation library obtained a bump with Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei, in addition to titles together with Borderlands 4, Battlefield 6, Arc Raiders and TechSwitch Gaming’s Game of the Year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Elsewhere, indie video games dominated, with the likes of Blue Prince, Hades 2, and Hollow Knight: Silksong proving standouts in a powerful 12 months for releases.
It’s been a 12 months to overlook for Xbox, nonetheless, and its woes solely accentuated the aforementioned successes for Nintendo and Sony. For starters, extra Xbox video games – together with Gears of War: Reloaded – arrived on PS5, whereas others are set to comply with, together with the image of Xbox itself, Halo. Meanwhile studios have been shuttered and potential video games cancelled, and to make issues worse the Xbox X/S have been outsold by a tiny household console, the Nex Playground, over Black Friday. All in all it’s been robust going for Team Green.
As for 2026, it’s starting to really feel just like the tempo of progress in direction of next-gen consoles will quicken, and the sport launch calendar seems to be properly stocked. However, a titan looms: Grand Theft Auto 6 is now slated for launch in November after being initially deliberate for late 2025, and the entire gaming world goes to revolve round its arrival.
THE YEAR IN FITNESS
Time’s finally up for wasteful wearables, thanks to Google
Last 12 months, I ended my contribution to this round-up by predicting a transfer away from health watches in direction of screenless trackers, equivalent to a brand new WHOOP mannequin, writes Matt Evans, Senior Editor, Fitness, Wellness & Wearables. Well, we obtained not one, however two new WHOOPs, and so they have been… effective. But, as costs rose, I discovered the continued subscription mannequin far too expensive.
However, my prediction that we’d transfer away from smartwatches hasn’t actually been borne out. Wearable tech isn’t altering a lot within the mainstream, with the highest-profile releases being a slate of latest watches from Garmin, Apple, Samsung, Google and OnePlus, and so they’ve been as common as ever.
Look past these large releases, nonetheless, and attention-grabbing new stuff is on the market. A subscription-free WHOOP competitor band was launched by Polar, whereas Core Devices, the resurrected Pebble watch firm led by its unique founder, unveiled a pair of watches impressed by the unique Pebble designs, full with low-power LCD-style screens, and open-source software program that anybody with the know-how can tinker with.
Core Devices additionally launched a new kind of smart ring with a button and a microphone, which the corporate says acts as “external memory for the brain”. Elsewhere, the AirPods Pro 3 now have built-in heart rate sensors, and Meta teamed up with Garmin to carry us the Oakley Meta Vanguard sports specs. Cool new wearable improvements are occurring, but it surely all nonetheless feels fairly fringe.
My innovation of the 12 months, nonetheless, got here from Google. The Google Pixel Watch 4 is the primary correctly repairable smartwatch, as you’re in a position to take it aside and exchange the battery and show. This lets you change particular person components slightly than the entire watch, decreasing your contribution to e-waste, and saving you cash in the long term.
Almost each different piece of wearable tech from each different firm remains to be a sealed unit that may in the end find yourself being disposed of, and I hope Google’s transfer may very well be the catalyst for change that the wasteful wearable tech business sorely wants.
THE YEAR IN ENTERTAINMENT
Streaming sensations, box-office flops, and merger madness
The greatest story of 2025 broke late within the 12 months, and it involved off-screen studio machinations slightly than on-screen drama. Netflix’s $82.7bn bid for Warner Bros. despatched shockwaves by way of the business when it was introduced in early December, and provoked a counter-bid from Paramount Skydance. There’s nonetheless a protracted strategy to go earlier than a deal is authorized, however ought to Netflix purchase one of many movie world’s most iconic studios it will be a landmark second for the streaming sector, and would signify a seismic shift for the leisure business as a complete.
Turning to the 12 months’s large theatrical releases, and quite a few new films flopped on the field workplace, together with some with enormous names hooked up (I’m taking a look at you, Dwayne Johnson and The Smashing Machine). Heck, with Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps all underperforming, even the normally dependable Marvel Studios didn’t have a money-spinning hit on its fingers. I’m wondering how many individuals predicted that animated and live-action/CGI hybrids would rule the theatrical roost, led by multi-billion dollar-spinning flicks like Lilo & Stitch, Zootopia 2, and Ne Zha II…
As for the key streaming providers, customers endured extra of the now-customary annual value hikes, whereas Max raised eyebrows by rebranding itself – again – to HBO Max. On the display screen, sudden hits equivalent to HBO medical drama The Pitt, plus Netflix’s ‘one-shot’ drama Adolescence and pop-culture phenomenon Kpop Demon Hunters, proved that not even the savviest business exec can actually make certain what viewers will latch onto. Add within the return of unmissable exhibits together with Severance and Stranger Things amid the glut of nice and not-so-great movie and TV releases, and there was lots to maintain our eyeballs engaged. Now, what have you ever obtained in retailer for us, 2026?
The Year in Smart Home
If the subscriptions don’t get you, the fridge ads will
Josephine Watson
It’s been a slow but not insignificant year in home technology as legacy brands scramble to keep pace with bigger, already tech-savvy players vying for their spot in our homes – whether that’s Breville reinventing the toaster with a proprietary optical sensor, IKEA launching new renewable energy solutions, or Eufy and Dreame duking it out to provide us the simplest stair-climbing robot vacuum.
Some manufacturers have been much less progressive than others although. Dyson left a few of us feeling snubbed with its ‘new’ (read: decade-old) vacuum, whereas Shark’s TurboBlade Cool + Heat failed to impress regardless of its noble try at mimicking different SharkNinja product’s viral fame.
Elsewhere we noticed large performs from Amazon and Google within the sensible dwelling area, with the arrival of their AI-bolstered dwelling assistants. Amazon’s Alexa+ and Google’s Gemini for Home each entered Early Access beta within the US, and whereas the early opinions for each have been combined, it is a promising glimpse into the way forward for the related dwelling.
Both of these providers are subscription-based choices, and subscriptions look set to change into a significant battleground for smart-home manufacturers, and a bone of rivalry between manufacturers and their clients, as corporations try to lock customers into their ecosystems, as we have already seen with video doorbells. Between that, and types like Samsung using screen-loaded appliances as advertising billboards across the dwelling, now is likely to be time to actually take into consideration which manufacturers you need need to put money into as you construct your sensible dwelling.