The AH Awards 2025: Phones We Actually Use. No Bullshit.

While Samsung did make some pretty impressive changes this year with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it wasn’t quite enough to win Best Smartphone of 2025. It did improve in just about every area, though it did also increase in price. You can read our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review to find out more.

The OnePlus 15 is a very good device, but ultimately the downgrades year-over-year meant it wouldn’t be the best smartphone to launch in 2025. It still offers great battery life, performance, the first always-on 165Hz display, and triple-cameras. But it is missing the Hasselblad influence that the OnePlus 13 had. Check out our OnePlus 15 review to learn more.

The OPPO Find X9 Pro earned Best Smartphone of 2025 by excelling everywhere that matters: battery life, charging speeds, display, audio, performance, and cameras.

OPPO kept Hasselblad to itself this year and made a bold move—ditching the second telephoto for a 3x 200MP sensor that sensor-crops its way to stunning 10x zoom shots. It’s genuinely the best smartphone for concerts we’ve tested.

Then there’s the battery. At 7,500mAh, it’s the largest we’ve ever seen in a non-gaming phone. “All-day” doesn’t cut it—expect two, maybe three days on a single charge.

The catch? No US availability. Ironically, importing costs less than buying in Europe, where it runs €1099 (~$1293)—Galaxy S25 Ultra territory. But for that price, you’re getting a lot of phone.

The Motorola Edge 2025 is a really good option for a budget phone. You can typically find it for under $500 and it sports a large display, big battery, fast charging a pretty decent camera setup for the price.

Motorola also brought over its vegan leather finish to the Motorola Edge 2025 this year, which makes it look absolutely incredible. Garnering an honorable mention for Best Budget Phone of 2025.

The OnePlus 13R earned Best Budget Phone of the Year by delivering an unmatched combination of flagship performance and exceptional value. At $599, it packs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 — the same chip that powered 2024’s top-tier flagships — giving users genuinely premium speed without the premium price tag.

What truly sets the OnePlus 13R apart is its two-day battery life from the massive 6,000mAh cell, solving the daily charging anxiety that plagues most smartphones. Paired with 80W fast charging and a charger included in the box, OnePlus addressed both longevity and convenience.

While it lacks wireless charging and has only IP65 water resistance, these compromises pale against what you get: flagship power, marathon battery life, and a stunning display at a price that undercuts the competition. The 13R proves you no longer need to spend $900+ for a genuinely excellent smartphone experience.

Samsung finally listened. After years of incremental “upgrades” that felt more like service packs than new phones, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 actually showed up with real improvements. Thinner. Lighter. Better cameras. A screen crease that’s less offensive. Progress across the board.

And yet — still not enough to take the crown.

Here’s the thing: Samsung’s been doing foldables longer than anyone, and they still can’t shake the feeling that they’re coasting. The Z Fold 7 is good. Genuinely good. But “good” doesn’t win awards when you’re charging more than ever and the competition is hungrier than you are.

Samsung brought a solid upgrade. Someone else brought a statement.

Read our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review for the full breakdown.

HONOR has no business being this good at foldables.

The Magic V5 is stupidly thin, dangerously light, and packed with specs that make Samsung sweat. On paper, this phone wins. It’s the kind of device that makes you wonder what the hell everyone else has been doing for the past five years.

So why didn’t it take the crown? Because most of you can’t buy it.

HONOR’s global availability is still a mess. Software support outside of China remains a question mark. And no matter how gorgeous the hardware is, we’re not handing out awards for phones that require an import hobby and a prayer. If you can get your hands on one — and you’re willing to roll the dice on long-term support — the Magic V5 is a beast. But “best” means best for everyone, not just the handful of enthusiasts willing to jump through hoops.

Incredible phone. Wrong circumstances.

Read our HONOR Magic V5 review for the full breakdown.

This is the foldable that made us stop making excuses for foldables.

For years, we’ve been grading this category on a curve. “Great for a foldable.” “Impressive considering the hinge.” “Worth it if you really want one.” The OPPO Find N5 doesn’t need qualifiers. It’s just a great phone that happens to fold.

While Samsung was busy charging flagship prices for iterative updates and Honor was building gorgeous hardware you can’t actually buy, OPPO walked in and dropped a foldable that’s thinner than most regular phones, built like it means it, and doesn’t ask you to compromise on cameras, battery, or performance. No asterisks. No “yeah, but.” Just a phone that makes you wonder why anyone would buy a slab in 2025.

This is what happens when a company stops treating foldables like a science experiment and starts treating them like the future.

The OPPO Find N5 isn’t just the best foldable of 2025. It’s the phone that proves foldables have finally grown up.

Read our OPPO Find N5 review for the full breakdown.

The OPPO Find X9 Pro has no right being this overlooked.

Hasselblad partnership that actually means something? Check. Color science that doesn’t make everyone look like a wax figure? Check. Versatility across every focal length without the usual “one great lens, three mediocre ones” compromise? Check.

This phone produces images that make photographers nod approvingly — not just tech reviewers chasing benchmark scores. It’s the camera phone for people who actually care about photography, not people who care about winning spec arguments on Reddit.

So why isn’t it the winner? Because being excellent isn’t enough when someone else is slightly more excellent. The Find X9 Pro does almost everything right. It just ran into a phone that does everything right with zero “almost.”

A bitter silver medal — but still a medal worth respecting.

Read our OPPO Find X9 Pro review for the full breakdown.

The OnePlus 13 dropped nearly a year ago — and it’s still on this list. Let that sink in.

In an industry where phones get outclassed before your first software update, the OnePlus 13 has been quietly embarrassing flagships for eleven straight months. That Hasselblad-tuned camera system? Still holds up. The color accuracy? Still ahead of devices launching today. The consistency across lighting conditions? Still making newer phones look like they forgot to study.

OnePlus used to be the “flagship killer” — scrappy, cheap, good enough. The OnePlus 13 killed that reputation. This isn’t a budget play punching up. This is a legitimate camera phone that happened to launch before everyone else got their act together.

The only reason it’s not the winner is timing. Nearly a year old means newer competition has had every chance to leapfrog it. Some did. Barely.

Still a beast. Still on the list. Still making 2025 releases nervous.

Read our OnePlus 13 review for the full breakdown.

This is the phone that made everyone else’s cameras feel like they were trying too hard.

The Vivo X300 Pro doesn’t need gimmicks. No “100x Space Zoom” that produces unusable mush. No AI filters that turn your photos into digital paintings nobody asked for. Just three lenses that do exactly what they’re supposed to do — beautifully, consistently, every single time.

That ZEISS partnership isn’t just a logo here. It’s a philosophy. The color science is filmic without being fake. The portrait mode creates natural bokeh that doesn’t look like someone attacked the background with Photoshop. Low light? Forget grainy, oversharpened garbage — the X300 Pro pulls light out of nowhere while keeping things actually looking real.

And that telephoto? Absurd. Genuinely, unfairly absurd. Other phones zoom and hope. The X300 Pro zooms and delivers.

While Samsung was busy adding more megapixels nobody needed and Google was tweaking computational tricks for the hundredth time, Vivo focused on what actually matters: making photos that look like memories, not tech demos.

The Vivo X300 Pro isn’t just the best camera phone of 2025. It’s the phone that reminded us what phone cameras should’ve been doing all along.

Read our Vivo X300 Pro review.

Yeah, we’re putting an iPhone in the Android Headlines awards. Cope.

The iPhone 17 is here because Apple did something genuinely unexpected: they made a small phone that doesn’t suck. No “mini” branding that gets abandoned after two years. No gimped specs to punish you for not wanting a phablet. Just a compact flagship that actually competes.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth — Apple paid more attention to small phone users than most Android manufacturers have in years. While Samsung and Google were busy making everything bigger, Apple remembered that some people have normal-sized hands and don’t want a phone that doubles as a cafeteria tray.

So why isn’t it the winner? Because this is Android Headlines. We’re not handing out the top spot to Cupertino — but we’re also not pretending this phone doesn’t exist out of spite. Credit where it’s due.

The iPhone 17 is a great small phone. It’s just playing for the wrong team.

Google finally figured out how to make a Pixel that doesn’t feel like a science project.

For years, the Pixel line was the phone you recommended with caveats. “Great camera, but…” “Amazing software, but…” “Best AI features, but…” The Pixel 10 killed the “but.” The hardware caught up. The Tensor G5 chip stopped overheating like it had something to prove. The build quality stopped feeling like Google was cutting corners to hit a price point.

And that camera? Still the best point-and-shoot experience in the game. Google’s computational photography isn’t just a gimmick — it’s the reason your drunk bar photos look better than they have any right to. The 5x telephoto delivers where it counts, and the photo processing remains unmatched for people who just want to tap the shutter and trust the result.

So why isn’t it the winner? Because Google got comfortable. The Pixel 10 is a refinement, not a statement. It’s the phone Google should’ve made two years ago — which is great, but “catching up” doesn’t take crowns.

Still one of the best Android phones money can buy. Just not the best.

Read our Google Pixel 10 review for the full breakdown.

A small phone that doesn’t apologize for existing? In 2025? What a concept.

While every other manufacturer was busy slapping “Ultra Max Pro Plus” on increasingly absurd 6.8-inch slabs, Vivo quietly dropped a 6.31-inch flagship that actually fits in a human hand. And here’s the kicker — they didn’t gut it to make it small. No “compact compromise.” No “mini but worse.” The X300 packs the same Dimensity 9500 as its bigger sibling, a 200MP main camera, a gorgeous LTPO OLED display, and battery life that shames phones twice its size.

This is the phone Samsung should’ve made. This is the phone Google keeps pretending they’ll make. This is the phone Apple charges $300 more for while giving you less.

Small phone fans have been gaslit for years into thinking they don’t deserve flagship specs. That wanting a one-handed device means accepting last year’s chip, mediocre cameras, and a battery that dies by dinner. The Vivo X300 said no to all of that.

Finally — a compact flagship built by people who actually understand why someone would want one.

The Vivo X300 Pro would’ve been a serious contender — if Vivo hadn’t kneecapped it.

On paper, the 6,510mAh silicon-carbon battery is a beast. In practice? You might not get that battery. EU models ship with a nerfed 5,440mAh cell thanks to shipping regulations, and Vivo decided that was your problem, not theirs. Same phone, same price, significantly less endurance. Cool.

For those lucky enough to get the full-fat version, the X300 Pro delivers legitimately impressive stamina — comfortably lasting a full day of heavy use with room to spare. The 90W wired charging and 40W wireless top-up mean you’re never tethered to a wall for long.

But we can’t hand out a battery award to a phone that plays regional roulette with its biggest selling point. If Vivo had figured out the logistics, this could’ve been a winner. They didn’t.

Great battery — when you actually get it.

Read our Vivo X300 Pro review.

OnePlus remembered what made them famous — and it wasn’t flagship prices.

The 15R packs a 7,500mAh silicon-carbon battery into a phone that costs hundreds less than the competition. Two-day battery life isn’t exclusive to thousand-dollar flagships anymore. OnePlus said “why should it be?” and nobody had a good answer.

This is the phone for people who want endurance without emptying their wallet. Heavy use gets you comfortably through a full day. Lighter use? You’ll start forgetting which outlet is your charging spot. The 55W wired charging means even when you do plug in, you’re not waiting around.

So why isn’t it the winner? Because the Find X9 Pro still edges it out on raw stamina, and the OnePlus 15R makes a few compromises to hit that price point. The cameras aren’t quite flagship-tier, and the display — while good — isn’t best-in-class.

But here’s the thing: most people don’t need the absolute best. They need a phone that lasts, charges fast, and doesn’t cost a mortgage payment. The OnePlus 15R nails all three.

The battery life champion for people who aren’t made of money.

Read our OnePlus 15R review for the full breakdown.

Two days. Not “up to” two days. Not “with light use.” Two actual, real-world, human days.

The OPPO Find X9 Pro showed up with a 7,500mAh silicon-carbon battery and made every other flagship look like they were still running on AA batteries and hope. While Samsung and Google were busy shaving millimeters off their phones and pretending that justified worse battery life, OPPO said “what if we just… didn’t do that?”

The result is a phone that treats charging as a suggestion rather than a requirement. Heavy use? You’ll make it to bedtime with room to spare. Moderate use? See you in 48 hours. It’s the kind of battery life that makes you forget what a low-battery notification even looks like.

And here’s the thing — OPPO didn’t sacrifice everything else to get here. This isn’t some chunky battery brick with a screen attached. It’s a legitimate flagship with Hasselblad cameras, a stunning display, and performance that keeps up with anything on the market. They just also decided that “dies by dinner” shouldn’t be the industry standard.

The Find X9 Pro is proof that two-day battery life was always possible. Everyone else just wasn’t trying hard enough.

Read our OPPO Find X9 Pro review for the full breakdown.

The OnePlus 15 is not the phone the internet decided it was.

Scroll through any tech forum and you’d think OnePlus committed a war crime. “They’ve lost their way.” “It’s just an OPPO rebrand.” “The old OnePlus is dead.” The drama. The hand-wringing. The performative disappointment from people who peaked during the OnePlus 3 era and never moved on.

Meanwhile, in reality? The OnePlus 15 is genuinely excellent. The Snapdragon 8 Elite delivers flagship performance without the flagship heat issues. The Hasselblad-tuned cameras produce some of the most natural-looking images on any Android phone. Battery life is rock-solid. The software is clean and fast. It does everything a $1,000+ phone should do — and does it well.

But that doesn’t fit the narrative. OnePlus became the internet’s punching bag somewhere around 2021, and apparently we’re never allowed to move past that. Every launch gets nitpicked into oblivion while Samsung ships another recycled Galaxy and gets a free pass.

The OnePlus 15 didn’t fail. The conversation around it did.

Read our OnePlus 15 review for the full breakdown.

Motorola made one of the best phones of 2025 and almost nobody cared.

While Samsung was busy releasing the same Galaxy Z Flip for the fourth year in a row, Motorola quietly dropped a flip phone that beats it in nearly every meaningful way. Bigger cover screen. Better cameras. Cleaner software. Competitive price. And yet — crickets. Because it says “Motorola” on the back instead of “Samsung,” and apparently that’s still a dealbreaker for people in 2025.

The Razr Ultra isn’t a “good phone for Motorola.” It’s a good phone, period. The cover display is actually usable — not the cramped afterthought Samsung keeps shipping. The main camera punches way above its weight class. The hinge feels solid. The software doesn’t bombard you with bloatware and ads for Samsung’s ecosystem.

But Motorola doesn’t have the marketing machine. They don’t have the carrier deals. They don’t have tech YouTubers building their entire December content calendar around their launches. So the Razr Ultra dropped, got a few polite reviews, and vanished into the algorithm while inferior phones dominated the conversation.

This is the phone that proved the flip phone market isn’t Samsung’s to own. Most people just didn’t notice.

Read our Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review for the full breakdown.

Huawei looked at the foldable market and said “you’re all thinking too small.”

The Mate XTs is a tri-fold. Not a book fold. Not a flip. Three screens. Two hinges. A phone that unfolds into a tablet that’s actually tablet-sized. While everyone else was iterating on the same dual-fold design Samsung introduced years ago, Huawei went full mad scientist and shipped something that feels like it’s from 2028.

Is it practical? Debatable. Is it affordable? Absolutely not. Can most of you even buy it? Probably not — Huawei’s global situation remains a mess, and getting one outside of China requires dedication, cash, and maybe a burner email for import sites.

But that’s not the point. The Mate XTs isn’t about practicality. It’s proof of concept. It’s Huawei flexing engineering muscle that most companies can’t match, slapping it into a production device, and daring the rest of the industry to keep up.

So why isn’t it the winner? Because innovation you can’t actually buy is just a tech demo with good PR. The Mate XTs is incredible — but it’s incredible from a distance for most of the world.

Still, respect where it’s due. Huawei built the future. Everyone else is still catching up.

Samsung finally remembered what innovation looks like.

For years, Samsung coasted. They invented the mainstream foldable market, then spent half a decade making the same phone over and over — slightly thinner bezels, marginally better cameras, identical hinge, identical crease, identical energy. The Galaxy Z Fold 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were updates, not innovations. Samsung had a head start on everyone and used it to take a nap.

Meanwhile, Huawei shipped a tri-fold. OPPO made foldables thinner than regular phones. Honor and Vivo started eating Samsung’s lunch with devices that made the Z Fold look like a prototype from 2021. Samsung’s response? “Here’s the same phone again, but now it’s $100 more.”

Then the Galaxy Z TriFold happened.

Samsung finally woke up, looked at what Huawei was doing, and said “fine, we’ll actually try.” A phone that unfolds into a 10-inch tablet. Two hinges that don’t feel like a liability. A display that makes the regular Z Fold look like a toy. This is the Samsung that used to take risks — the Samsung that shipped the Galaxy Note when styluses were “dead” and curved screens when everyone said they were pointless.

Is it expensive? Obscenely. Is it perfect? No. But it’s the first time in years Samsung has shipped a foldable that felt like the future instead of a refinement of the past.

Welcome back, Samsung. We were starting to wonder if you’d ever show up again.

ASUS has been doing this longer than anyone, and it shows.

The ROG Phone 9 Pro is what happens when a company refuses to water down its vision. While other manufacturers flirt with “gaming features” — a higher refresh rate here, a cooling vent there — ASUS built a phone that looks like it belongs in an esports tournament. The AeroActive cooler attachment. The ultrasonic shoulder triggers. The screen that hits 185Hz like it’s nothing. This thing doesn’t want to be your daily driver. It wants to be your weapon.

And the performance backs up the aggression. The Snapdragon 8 Elite runs ice cold thanks to a cooling system that rivals some laptops. Sustained gaming sessions that would throttle other flagships? The ROG Phone 9 Pro doesn’t flinch. It’s a phone built by people who understand that mobile gaming isn’t a casual time-killer — it’s a lifestyle choice, and a slightly unhinged one at that.

So why isn’t it the winner? Because ASUS leaned so hard into gaming that everything else feels like an afterthought. The camera is fine. The software is cluttered. The design screams “I play Genshin Impact competitively” in a way that might not fly in a work meeting.

For pure gaming? Almost unbeatable. For everything else? That’s where it stumbles.

The gaming phone the big names were too scared to make.

While ASUS was busy charging flagship prices for iterative updates and Razer was off doing… whatever Razer does now, RedMagic walked in with a phone that does one thing better than anyone else: it doesn’t give a damn about playing it safe. Active cooling fan built directly into the chassis. A display so fast it makes 120Hz feel like a slideshow. Performance so sustained that other gaming phones file noise complaints.

Here’s the thing about RedMagic — they’ve always been the underdog. No billion-dollar marketing budget. No carrier deals. No influencer army. Just a relentless focus on building gaming phones for people who actually game, not people who want to tell everyone they’re gamers. The 11 Pro is the culmination of that obsession.

The integrated cooling system keeps the Snapdragon 8 Elite running at full tilt long after competitors have throttled into submission. The under-display camera means no notch, no hole-punch — just uninterrupted screen for the games that matter. The shoulder triggers are responsive and don’t require a $200 accessory. And the price? Hundreds less than the competition for a phone that outperforms them.

RedMagic didn’t try to make a phone that looks “professional” or “mainstream.” They made a phone for gamers who want to win. Everyone else is still catching up.

Samsung finally stopped sleepwalking.

For years, the Galaxy Tab lineup felt like Samsung was making tablets because Samsung makes everything — not because they had anything to prove. The specs were always impressive on paper. The execution was always just… fine. Premium hardware wrapped in software that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a laptop, a drawing pad, or just a really expensive way to watch YouTube.

The Tab S11 Ultra is different. Samsung actually paid attention to what people were begging for: DeX that doesn’t feel like a science experiment, S Pen latency that approaches actual paper, and multitasking that treats you like an adult who can handle more than two apps at once. The display is still absurdly gorgeous — the kind of AMOLED that makes you wonder why you ever tolerated anything less. And the keyboard cover finally feels like a real accessory instead of an overpriced apology.

It’s not our winner because Samsung still can’t resist Samsung-ing it up — the price is aggressive, One UI still has too many opinions, and there’s bloatware that shouldn’t exist on a device this expensive. But credit where it’s due: this is the first Galaxy Tab in years that feels like Samsung actually wanted to make it, not just had to.

The tablet that made everyone else look lazy.

Here’s what happens when a company actually listens: OnePlus watched the tablet market sleepwalk through another year of incremental updates and $1,200+ price tags, and decided to do something radical — build a tablet that’s genuinely great without requiring a second mortgage. The OnePlus Pad 3 isn’t winning because it’s the cheapest option. It’s winning because it’s the smartest one.

The 13.3-inch 3.2K display hits 144Hz and gets bright enough to use anywhere. The Dimensity 9400 doesn’t flinch at anything you throw at it. Battery life? OnePlus didn’t just match the competition — they embarrassed it. This thing outlasts tablets that cost twice as much. And the software actually feels like someone thought about how people use tablets instead of just scaling up a phone interface and calling it a day.

But here’s what really separates the Pad 3 from everything else: OnePlus understood that a great tablet isn’t about having the biggest number in every spec column. It’s about balance. The display is gorgeous without being overkill. The performance is flagship-tier without thermal throttling into oblivion. The build quality feels premium without adding unnecessary weight. Everything works together instead of fighting for attention.

Samsung and Apple have spent years convincing people that premium tablets have to cost a fortune. OnePlus just proved that’s a choice, not a requirement. The Pad 3 is the tablet the industry should have been making all along — they just needed someone to show them how.

Read our OnePlus Pad 3 review for the full breakdown.

OnePlus did what OnePlus does — made everyone else look overpriced.

The Watch 3 is what happens when a company refuses to accept that smartwatches have to be either cheap and terrible or expensive and marginally better. OnePlus looked at the $400+ flagship watches, looked at their spec sheets, and apparently laughed. Then they built something that competes with all of them for hundreds less.

The Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 keeps everything snappy. The 1.43-inch AMOLED display is sharp and bright enough to read in direct sunlight. Battery life stretches past the two-day mark with normal use — not “if you disable everything” use, actual human use. And when you do need to charge, the VOOC flash charging gets you back to full faster than most watches get to 50%.

But here’s what really matters: the Wear OS implementation doesn’t feel like an afterthought. OnePlus resisted the urge to skin everything into oblivion. You get Google’s ecosystem without Samsung’s bloat or Fitbit’s identity crisis. It’s clean, fast, and stays out of your way.

The only reason this isn’t our winner is because Google decided to actually try this year. In any other year, OnePlus would be walking away with the crown. Instead, they’re walking away with a message to every other manufacturer: your margins are a choice, not a necessity.

Samsung finally got out of their own way.

For years, Galaxy Watches have been frustrating exercises in “almost.” Almost great hardware. Almost clean software. Almost seamless integration. Always something holding them back — whether it was Tizen’s app desert, Wear OS implementations that felt like hostile takeovers, or Samsung’s pathological need to add features nobody wanted while ignoring the basics.

The Galaxy Watch 8 is the first time Samsung shut up and listened. The rotating bezel gimmick? Gone on most models, and nobody misses it. The software? Finally feels like Wear OS with Samsung enhancements instead of Samsung software wearing Wear OS’s skin like a mask. The health tracking? Accurate, comprehensive, and not locked behind a subscription paywall that makes you feel like you’re renting your own watch.

The hardware is exactly what you’d expect from Samsung — beautiful display, solid build quality, comfortable on the wrist. The BioActive sensor does its job without turning every heart rate reading into a WebMD doom spiral. And the Galaxy ecosystem integration actually works now, syncing with your phone and earbuds without requiring a blood sacrifice to Bixby.

It’s not our winner because Samsung still can’t help themselves in a few areas — the price creeps higher than it should, and there’s still some bloat that doesn’t need to exist. But this is the Galaxy Watch that Samsung should have made three years ago. Better late than never.

Google finally made the watch they should have made from the start.

Three generations of “almost there.” Three generations of promising hardware held back by battery life that made Apple Watch owners smug and Wear OS skeptics feel vindicated. Three generations of Google swearing they’d figure it out next time. Well, next time is now, and Google actually delivered.

The Pixel Watch 4 isn’t winning on specs alone — though the specs are excellent. It’s winning because Google finally understood that a smartwatch lives or dies by the basics. Does it last through the day? Yes, comfortably. Does it track health without making you feel like a lab rat? Yes, beautifully. Does it look like something you’d actually want to wear instead of a miniature hockey puck strapped to your wrist? Yes, finally.

But the real victory here is software. This is pure Wear OS as it was meant to exist — no Samsung detours, no half-baked Fitbit compromises, no “we’ll fix it in a software update” excuses. Google Assistant actually works. Notifications are seamless. The health tracking integrates with Google’s ecosystem without requiring a PhD in settings menus. It’s the Android watch experience that should have existed five years ago.

OnePlus brought the battery life. Samsung brought the polish. But Google brought the complete package — a smartwatch that doesn’t ask you to make excuses for it. The Pixel Watch 4 isn’t just the best Google watch ever made. It’s the best Wear OS watch, period. And it’s about damn time.

Read our Google Pixel Watch 4 review for the full breakdown.

Bose remembered they’re Bose.

For a minute there, it felt like the company that invented noise cancellation had forgotten how to compete. The original QuietComfort Ultras were good — really good — but “good” doesn’t cut it when Sony is breathing down your neck and Apple is throwing billions at audio engineering. Bose needed to stop coasting on reputation and start fighting again.

The second generation is Bose throwing punches.

The noise cancellation isn’t just best-in-class — it’s the kind of silence that makes you check if the world outside still exists. Bose didn’t just tune the algorithms; they rebuilt them from the ground up. Airplane cabin? Gone. Open-plan office chaos? Erased. That one coworker who won’t stop talking about their fantasy football team? Blissfully muted. This is noise cancellation that feels like a superpower, not a feature.

And the sound. Bose has always been about that warm, rich, “sit back and let the music wash over you” signature, and the QC Ultra 2 doubles down on it. Not the clinical, analytical approach that audiophile snobs demand. Not the bass-heavy mudslide that certain competitors think “good” means. Just music that sounds like music — the way the artist intended, with enough Bose magic to make everything feel a little more alive.

It’s not our winner because Bose still charges like they’re the only option in town, and the app experience remains more cluttered than it needs to be. But if noise cancellation is your religion, these are the earbuds you pray with.

The audiophile’s revenge on mainstream earbuds — and everyone else should be taking notes.

For sixty years, Technics has been the brand that serious audio people whisper about while everyone else buys whatever’s trending on TikTok. Their turntables became the gold standard for DJs worldwide. Their hi-fi equipment sits in studios where actual music gets made. And now, with the EAH-AZ100, they’ve decided to remind Sony and Bose that sound quality isn’t just another bullet point on a spec sheet — it’s the whole damn point.

These earbuds don’t care about your ecosystem. They don’t want to be your lifestyle accessory. They want to be the best-sounding thing you’ve ever put in your ears, and they succeed with almost annoying confidence. The magnetic fluid drivers — borrowed from Technics’ reference-class wired monitors and miniaturized for wireless — deliver the kind of clarity, detail, and musical engagement that makes everything else sound like you’re listening through a wet blanket. This isn’t incremental improvement. This is a statement.

But here’s what separates the AZ100 from every other “audiophile-grade” earbud that sacrifices everything else at the altar of sound: Technics didn’t compromise. The noise cancellation handles London Underground lines without flinching. Three-device multipoint means you’re not constantly re-pairing like some Bluetooth peasant. Battery life finally keeps pace with the competition. Dolby Atmos with head tracking actually works. And they’re smaller, lighter, and more comfortable than their already-excellent predecessor.

Sony and Bose have spent years trading the crown back and forth while Technics quietly perfected their craft in the background. The EAH-AZ100 is Technics stepping out of the shadows and announcing that the conversation has changed. Best noise cancellation? Debatable. Best ecosystem integration? Depends who you ask. Best sound? Not even close. The Technics wins, and it’s not a photo finish.

This is what earbuds sound like when they’re made by people who’ve spent six decades obsessing over audio fidelity. Everyone else is playing catch-up.

Ecovacs brought a knife to a gunfight — and almost won anyway.

The Deebot X8 Pro Omni is what happens when a company stops chasing trends and starts perfecting fundamentals. While competitors were busy adding robotic arms and gimmicks that look great in YouTube thumbnails, Ecovacs focused on the thing that actually matters: making your floors cleaner than you thought a robot could manage. And they nailed it.

The OZMO Turbo 2.0 mopping system doesn’t just drag a damp cloth around and call it a day. It scrubs with rotating mop pads at 180 RPM, applying consistent pressure that actually lifts dried-on grime instead of politely redistributing it. The 8,000Pa suction handles everything from fine dust to pet hair to the Cheerios your toddler strategically scattered under the dining table. The auto-empty station washes the mop pads with hot water, dries them to prevent mildew, and empties the dustbin — all without you lifting a finger for weeks at a time.

Navigation is smart enough to feel invisible. The X8 Pro Omni maps your home quickly, remembers where it’s been, and doesn’t treat chair legs like an existential crisis. Edge detection is tight. Carpet recognition triggers suction boosts automatically. It cleans methodically instead of chaotically, which sounds like a low bar until you remember how many robot vacuums still bounce around like drunk Roombas.

It’s not our winner because 2025 brought some genuinely next-level innovation that the X8 Pro Omni doesn’t quite match. But here’s the thing — most people don’t need next-level. They need a robot that cleans thoroughly, maintains itself, and never makes them think about it. The Deebot X8 Pro Omni does exactly that, and does it at a price that doesn’t require a payment plan.

Winner: Roborock Saros 10R

Roborock just made every other robot vacuum look like a Roomba from 2015.

Let’s talk about the arm. Yes, the Saros 10R has a retractable robotic arm that picks up objects off your floor — socks, small toys, cables, the debris of daily life that turns every other robot vacuum into a confused, stuck, helpless little puck. While competitors were still bragging about “improved obstacle avoidance” (translation: it bumps into things slightly less), Roborock said “what if we just… picked the obstacles up?” It’s the kind of solution that seems obvious in hindsight and absolutely unhinged in execution. And it works.

But the arm isn’t why the Saros 10R wins. It wins because Roborock remembered that a robot vacuum’s primary job is to clean floors, and then made sure it does that better than anything else on the market. The suction is relentless. The navigation is surgical — this thing maps your home with the precision of a military drone and cleans with the efficiency of someone who actually cares. The mopping system doesn’t just push dirty water around; it scrubs, lifts, and leaves floors that genuinely feel clean. The self-emptying, self-washing, self-drying base station handles all the maintenance you used to do manually and does it without complaint.

This is what happens when a company decides that “good enough” is an insult. Roborock looked at the state of robot vacuums in 2025 — the tangled hair, the missed corners, the apps that need a PhD to operate — and built something that makes all of it feel prehistoric. The Saros 10R isn’t just the best robot vacuum of the year. It’s the robot vacuum that finally justifies the entire category’s existence.

Your floors have never been this clean. Your involvement has never been this minimal. The future finally showed up, and it has a tiny arm.

Read our Roborock Saros 10R review for the full breakdown.

Google spent five years building Tensor to escape Qualcomm’s shadow. Then they made a phone that feels like it’s still standing in it.

The Pixel 10 is the platonic ideal of “fine.” The Tensor G5 finally fixes the overheating problems that plagued earlier generations — congratulations on solving your own homework, Google. The cameras are excellent, as they’ve been since the Pixel 3. The software is clean, as it’s been since forever. The AI features are clever, as they were when they debuted two years ago. Nothing here is new. Nothing here is exciting. Nothing here makes you feel like Google remembered they’re supposed to be an innovation company.

Design-wise, the Pixel 10 looks like a Pixel 9, which looked like a Pixel 8, which means Google has been running the same aesthetic for three generations while pretending each one is a fresh start. The camera bar is iconic in the same way beige is iconic — you recognize it, you just don’t care.

Here’s the thing: the Pixel 10 is a perfectly good phone. It takes great photos, gets updates first, and runs Android the way Android should run. But Google has the resources to swing for the fences, and instead they’ve settled into a comfortable groove of incremental updates and recycled talking points. The Pixel used to be the phone for people who wanted to see the future. Now it’s the phone for people who want last year’s future at this year’s prices.

When your biggest flex is “we fixed the problems we created,” you’ve lost the plot.

Remember when Nothing was interesting?

The Nothing Phone (3a) is what happens when a company mistakes aesthetic for identity and coasts on vibes instead of vision. Carl Pei built Nothing on the promise of being different — transparent backs, Glyph lights, a middle finger to the boring smartphone establishment. The Phone (1) was weird in the best way. The Phone (2) refined the formula. The Phone (3a) feels like Nothing ran out of things to say and decided to mumble.

Let’s talk about those Glyph lights. They were cool exactly once — the first time you saw them. By 2025, they’re the smartphone equivalent of underglow on a Honda Civic: a novelty that screams “look at me” while offering nothing of substance. The 3a doubles down on a gimmick that stopped being novel two years ago, adding more light patterns nobody asked for while the phone underneath remains stubbornly mid-range. You can customize 47 different notification patterns. You still can’t get flagship performance.

The specs read like a phone designed by committee afraid to take risks. Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 — fine. 50MP camera — fine. 5,000mAh battery — fine. Everything about the Nothing Phone (3a) is fine. And “fine” is the most damning word you can use for a brand that was supposed to be the antidote to fine. Nothing promised to make tech fun again. The 3a is a mid-ranger with LED strips that could’ve come from any company with a marketing budget and a soldering iron.

The tragedy isn’t that the Nothing Phone (3a) is bad. It’s that it’s boring. Nothing carved out a niche by being the rebels, the weirdos, the company that gave a damn about making phones feel exciting again. The 3a abandons that energy entirely. Strip away the transparent back and the blinking lights and you’re left with a phone that competes with the Pixel 8a and Samsung Galaxy A55 — except those phones don’t pretend to be revolutionary.

Carl Pei once said the tech industry had become stale. He was right. The Nothing Phone (3a) proves he’s now part of the problem.

When your entire brand identity fits on a see-through back panel, you’d better make sure the rest of the phone justifies the aesthetic. The 3a doesn’t. It’s a costume without a character — all flash, no substance, and absolutely nothing worth remembering.