Last year, Digital Trends asked our readers to throw their votes in for the best tech of the year. And we’ve done it again. The Digital Trends Reader’s Choice Awards are here, and you all have lent your voices to helping us decide which products are worthy of praise (and which ones are better left on the shelf.)
You all voted on everything from headphones to smart plugs. The results are in, and we’re here to tell you which products are the most beloved picks among the Digital Trends community.
Best Bluetooth Speaker brand: Soundcore
Soundcore is a powerhouse in the audio industry. Between the company’s excellent earbuds like the Soundcore Liberty 5 or its tremendous Bluetooth speakers like the Soundcore Select 4 Go, Soundcore has established itself as a budget-friendly alternative to much bigger names.
This year, readers chose Soundcore as the best overall Bluetooth speaker brand. Soundcore offers more than solid bass and loud volume; at CES 2025, the company announced a new feature that uses AI to strip away the vocals of any song so you can get up there and belt out the words yourself.
Best Desktop PC brand: Apple
Apple might be better known for its laptops than its desktops, but don’t count out more stationary devices. Digital Trends’ readers chose Apple as the best brand of desktop PCs out of the many options on the market, and with options like the Mac Studio and Mac Mini up for grabs, it’s a pretty obvious choice.
A new Mac Studio just released a few months ago, too, proving that Apple has no plans to discontinue the series anytime soon.
Best Electric Bike brand: Aventon
Electric bikes (or e-bikes) have skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years, but few brands have the same market power that Aventon does. Between its sleek design, powerful and quiet motors, and support for taller customers, the brand has built up a dedicated following among fans.
Specific models like the Level.3 and the Abound LR are ever-popular choices, especially for folks who want to spend more time outdoors. Whether you want to get a bit more Vitamin D in your day to day or you’re looking for a more environmentally-friendly way to get around, electric bikes are a fantastic option.
Highly commended
- Rad Power
Best Headphones brand: 1More
The audio market is a minefield of budget-priced winners, overpriced duds, and everything in between. That’s part of the reason 1More stands out so well in comparison. The company offers extremely high-end performance without a wallet-shattering price, and some of its new options (like the SonoFlow Max HQ70s from this year’s CES) are bridging gaps in the headphone market.
Best Home Security Camera brand: Eufy
Eufy has been a major player in the smart home space for years now, and in more than just security cameras. The brand is known for everything from robot vacuums to security cameras, and our readers voted it the single best choice for home security.
The company cranks out winners on a regular basis, and the Eufy Solocam E40 earned a spot on our list of the best security cameras for 2025.
Best Home Video Doorbell brand: Blink
Blink is an Amazon-owned brand that has positioned itself as a provider of low-cost, budget-focused home security solutions. The Blink Video Doorbell is an inexpensive option for keeping an eye on your front porch, especially at a time when porch piracy is more prevalent than ever.
You can easily link Blink devices together in a single app. You can review the previous 24 hours for free, but more storage than that requires a Blink subscription (roughly $10 per month.) If you want something on the more powerful side, Amazon also owns Ring. Ring is a highly-commended runner-up from our readers (and the brand this author uses, too.)
Highly commended
- Ring
Best Home Wi-Fi brand: Eero
Another Alexa-powered device, the Amazon Eero router series is one of the most user-friendly options on the market. Eero offers routers ranging from barebones, minimalist systems to advanced Wi-Fi 7 devices. The highest-end models support triple-band networks, and the mesh configuration means your network has redundancy just in case one device fails.
Even power users get a lot of use out of these handy routers. There are dedicated controls for your smart home devices within the interface, and you can control so much of your network with just voice commands.
Highly commended
- Google Nest
- TP
Best Laptop brand: Apple
No one would argue that Macbooks are among the single most popular type of laptops on the market (and the amount of time our readers spend on our best MacBook roundup is proof of that). These laptops combine portability with tremendous power and are great choices for students and on-the-go workers.
For people who prioritize weight over everything else, the MacBook Air M1 is a fantastic choice that will keep you powered up for hours at a time, while the MacBook Pro is a solid overall pick for users looking for a little bit of everything.
Best Mobile Phone brand: Apple
The iPhone is nothing short of a global phenomenon. Apple’s flagship handheld has evolved from just another option in the phone market to owning more than a quarter of the overall share, and that shows no signs of changing as the company continues to churn out new innovations on a regular basis.
The iPhone 17 is the next release (expected in September 2025), and we have already written extensively about what that means for the industry overall. The phone could be receiving a major camera upgrade. If that’s not an area of focus for you, there are still tons of iPhones worth checking out.
If the iOS ecosystem isn’t your jam, don’t worry: both Samsung and Google are highly commended options with powerful phones, and they differ quite a bit from the iPhone.
Highly commended
- Samsung
Best Monitor brand: LG
LG makes everything from washers and dryers to consumer tech, but the company’s monitors are truly a sight to behold — pun fully intended. While LG is largely known for targeting its monitor lineup to gamers and others demanding high-quality performance, the monitors are capable of so much more than making Doom: The Dark Ages look even better.
Take the LG 27GN0950, a monitor from several years ago. It’s a 4K gaming monitor with a wide range of input and output options, but more than that, its color accuracy is so on-point that it will serve professionals well in day-to-day work. If you’re editing video, tweaking an image, or anything else that requires you to be able to spot even the slightest shade variances in an image, LG is the brand for you.
And if LG isn’t your preferred brand, Samsung is another option worth consideration (especially the Samsung Odyssey G8 monitor), and so is anything from HP, although we particularly recommend the HP Omen 27K.
Highly commended
- Samsung
- HP
Best Portable Charger brand: Anker
Whether you’re going on a long hiking trip, to a sports event, or anywhere else you might be away from an easy source of power, make sure you have a portable charger you can count on. Digital Trends’ readers say no brand fits that bill better than Anker. The company routinely wins awards for its quality products, and Anker announced a new power bank at CES 2025 that packs a whopping 125W into a small size (although it is deceptively heavy.)
That said, Anker has been the center of controversy in the past. If you prefer a different brand, we suggest either Belkin or Apple. Both companies are beloved by our readers and offer quality products that will keep your phone topped off even when you haven’t been near a charger for hours.
Highly commended
- Belkin
- Apple
Best Printer brand: Brother
The quest to find a reliable printer can feel never-ending (as does the urge to load an ink cartridge with fuel and start playing with a lighter, but I digress.) We keep a roundup of the best printers of the year to help readers find easy answers, and it’s no surprise that two different Brother devices make the cut.
These printers are reliable, affordable, and generally a bit smaller than other options. If you’re pressed for space, the Brother MFC-J1205W is a great choice. It prints quickly, includes up to a year of ink, and even has a built-in scanner.
Best Robot Vacuum brand: Eufy
Robot vacuum cleaners are among the most popular types of smart home gadgets out there. After all, why vacuum when an inexpensive robot can do it for you? While there are plenty of big names out there, including Roborock and iRobot, Eufy takes the prize for our reader’s choice awards due to its combination of affordability and reliable performance.
Options like the Eufy RoboVac G30 Edge appeal to budget-friendly shoppers, while higher-end models like the X10 Omni Pro combine both vacuuming and mopping functionality into one easy-to-use device.
At one point, iRobot — better known to most as Roomba — was the leader in the industry, but companies like Roborock have arisen that challenge the status quo. If you want an alternative to Eufy, Roborock is our second choice.
Highly commended
- Roborock
Best Smart Home Lighting brand: Philips Hue
Philips has been a leader in the lighting market for years — long before the idea of “smart” lighting, or even the Internet itself, came into being. The Hue brand has been one of the go-to choices since the first smart lights winked on in the market, and accessory devices like the Hue Play only further cemented its grip.
Readers love the Philips Hue lineup, whether discussing different types of light strips or whether to go with an A19 bulb versus a different kind. There’s a reason the brand lands on our roundup of best smart bulbs.
There’s just one downside: Philips Hue bulbs can be a bit on the pricy side. If you’re in the market for a more affordable alternative, consider both Wyze and Govee.
Highly commended
- Wyze
- Govee
Best Smart Home Plug brand: Amazon
Amazon’s smart plugs are some of the easiest devices to set up and get started with, and the possibilities are endless. The tap of an on-screen button is all you need to turn power on or off to a given device. Use it to handle everything from turning on a box fan to lighting up the tree at Christmas. Smart plugs are great for safety, too, like ensuring a space heater is turned off.
Another solid option — and the runner-up in this category — are smart plugs from TP-Link. These devices are roughly the same price as Amazon plugs and offer similar functionality.
Highly commended
- TP
Best Soundbar brand: Bose
Bose is a name that’s almost synonymous with quality, and Bose soundbars are no exception to that. The brand finds a spot in our roundups of the best soundbars of the year almost every single year, with specific models like the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 making it easier than ever to take an average living room and turn it into an entertainment powerhouse.
The best part is that many Bose devices fall into an affordable, albeit not budget, price range. You’ll pay for quality, but you won’t pay as much as you might for some of the brand’s competitors.
Highly commended
- Sonos
Best Streaming Device brand: Apple
Cable TV is so yesteryear. These days, it’s all about what’s on Netflix, Hulu, etc. — and the best way to access those services is through a streaming device. According to our readers, no other company delivers on that front better than Apple with the Apple TV. What start out as a simple set-top box has expanded into its own streaming service, complete with original programming and content that can be found nowhere else.
While there are other options on the market, users in the Apple ecosystem will get the most use out of an Apple TV. If you aren’t an Apple user and want an equally-impressive option for a lower price, you can’t go wrong with Roku (and Roku has also recently started to offer a lineup of smart home gadgets you can control from your TV, too.)
Highly commended
- Roku
Best TV brand: Sony
Sony sits comfortably upon a throne as the leader of the TV market. With a wide range of different TV models to pick from (including the beloved Bravia sets), Sony has established itself as one of the foremost names in home entertainment. Some of its TVs are even customized to offer better performance on gaming consoles like the PlayStation 5.
The brand also has regular sales that make even high-end sets much more affordable, like a recent one that dropped the price of the Sony Bravia 8 OLED by a whopping $900.
Highly commended
- LG
- Hisense
