Christmas Gift Guide 2024: Gadgets & Tech

2024 may just be the year of the iPhone Pro. Long kept in the shadow of its bigger, more fully featured sibling, the Pro Max, the Pro has received a welcome upgrade this year, making the iPhone 16 Pro arguably the best ‘small’ phone on the market. No longer denied the 5x zoom camera of its larger sibling, the 16 Pro is now a top-of-the-line iPhone but with a more compact profile that allows for single-handed use. Plus, the improved battery puts it on a par with last year’s 15 Pro Max (around 14 hours in real terms), meaning you won’t run out of juice at the tail end of the day, either — another check in the ‘win’ column. The 16 Pro has a fractionally bigger screen than the 15 Pro, with the same always-on,120Hz display, which remains one of the best smartphone screens we’ve encountered. That 5x zoom, combined with the 48 megapixel standard and ultra-wide lenses, delivers outstanding image quality across the board, genuinely making us question the need for a dedicated DSLR when you have something this capable resting in your back pocket. And if you’re lucky enough to own Apple’s Vision Pro, then you can even shoot spatial video (and photos) for viewing on the headset, putting you in proper sci-fi territory with 3D holographic snaps. The big external change to the 16 Pro also involves the camera, as it now has a dedicated camera button, which co-exists alongside last year’s action button (now free to do something else) and not only fires up the camera app, but lets you take pictures and adjust settings on the fly, massively speeding up your shutter time. A glorious handset from top to bottom.

While Sonos are primarily known for their speaker and home cinema ecosystem, the company crashed into the headphone space this year with the Sonos Ace, their first set of cans and one aimed squarely at the high-end consumer. From an aesthetics standpoint, these have a pleasantly understated vibe with sleek, low profile ear cups, a classy matt black (or white) exterior and a comfortable foam headband. Quality-wise, there’s certainly nothing to complain about here, with fidelity on a level you’d expect from Sonos and that can rival any premium phones with even, balanced audio, punchy treble and solid bass. And if you’re using them on your commute, you’ll be thankful for the active noise cancelling as well. If it’s home cinema rather than music on the move that interests you, then this is where the Ace phones really shine. Connectable with Sonos’ soundbar range, they can instantly snatch your home cinema audio if, for example, you want to watch the latest *Mission: Impossible* without waking the kids. The immersive surround sound supports proper head tracking, too, so you never lose sense of the spatial audio. If you already have a Sonos cinema system then these are a perfect addition.

VR is undeniably cool, but it’s also expensive. The Quest 3S Meta’s attempt to address this issue, providing an experience nearly on a par with the more expensive Quest 3, but with a few hardware tweaks to allow for a more competitive price point. Like its bigger brother, the Quest 3S is a completely standalone VR unit with no trailing wires to trip over, or external battery pack. You simply designate the real-world boundaries for the VR space in your home (so you don’t end up falling over the sofa) and off you go. Like the Quest 3, the 3S works both as a VR and a mixed reality headset, with games that supports both means of play — there’s even an action button to instantly switch modes, which isn’t actually present on the Quest 3. And while the lenses are a slight downgrade from the Quest 3 — here using 1832 x 1920 Fresnel lenses — the quality dip isn’t so much that it’s distracting when you’re in a heavy gaming session. And speaking of which, the Quest catalogue has swelled over the past few years, with a vast array of games from ports of mainstream titles like Resident Evil 4 to perennial VR faves like Pistol Whip and the fiendishly addictive Beat Saber. While the graphical fidelity can’t hold up to the PSVR2 (this is a mobile unit, after all), it’s an extremely capable, wire-free headset that makes for an excellent and affordable way to dip your toe into the VR waters.

It’s hard to deny that Apple have the smart watch market pretty much sewn up. The Apple Watch has long been head and shoulders above the wearable competition and its a lead that only lengthened this year with the introduction of the Apple Watch 10 — somehow managing to be at once thinner, lighter and *bigger* than any Apple Watch to date. With a gorgeous 989 sq mm display (you need to see it to believe it), this has the largest watch screen Apple have yet released, allowing for easy readability and, thanks to the wide-angle OLED, providing excellent off-angle viewing — essential when sneaking a furtive look at your notifications. At 9.7mm, it’s also 10% thinner than the previous model, and comes in either the traditional aluminium or new titanium for a solid, semi-indestructible vibe. Plus the addition of a1Hz refresh rate finally lets you have a ticking second hand on the always-on display, the built-in speaker can now play music capably, and the addition of voice isolation technology allows for more practical watch-based calls so you can live out your ‘80s Knight Rider fantasies. If, on the other hand, you prefer a more rugged aesthetic, the Ultra 2 provides a chunkier, more hard-wearing design and the handy action button, which can be assigned to any number of functions, including using the ultra-bright 3000 nit display (the series 10 tops out at 2000) as a handy torch. The Ultra 2 also now comes in a black titanium finish for the ultimate in outdoor cool.

Belkin have a long history of making quality accessories and this nifty little stand is no exception. A compact and highly useful charging station for both your iPhone and Apple Watch, this particular charging dock excels thanks to a minimalist, pleasing aesthetic, and its practicality as a desktop or bedside stand. With built in MagSafe, it allows you to mount your phone horizontally and angled to your preference, placing the phone into StandBy and instantly making it feel natural as a bedside alarm clock. The base is gratifyingly weighty, too, meaning it won’t knock over and doesn’t follow the phone when you pull it from the magnetic base. It also allows for 15W fast-charging, meaning you won’t have to wait all night for your phone — or watch — to juice up, either.

Marshall might be primarily known for the stacks of amps you see blasting noise at gigs, but their range of headphones and speakers allow for a more compact, personal sound without compromising on quality. This appealingly amp-like speaker sits at the higher end of the portable speaker range, while retaining a modest yet rugged form-factor that’s substantial without being cumbersome. From an audio perspective, the Middleton performs well, thanks to dual 15W woofers and 10W tweeters, delivering a powerful, vibrant sound that belies its compact dimensions. The sound profile can also be fine-tuned via the EQ in the Marshall app and it’s IP67 rated, too, so more than waterproof enough to survive the occasional dip. And and with a generous 20 hour battery life, you won’t be left unexpectedly sitting in silence either.

Sometimes you just have to accept that something is made with arcade wizardry, which might just be the case with Apple’s new AirPods 4, which add active noise cancelling that seems to fly in the face of accepted headphones physics. Anyone with a pair of AirPods Pro will already be familiar with Apple’s clever blend of full noise cancelling, transparency and adaptive noise cancelling, facilitated by the Pro model’s silicone tip and sound isolation seal. The AirPods 4 on the other hand, have no such seal and retain the open design regular AirPods have had since their inception, and yet… the ANC still works, and works *well*. This fourth iteration does come as a version without ANC, but it’s the top-end model that’s most impressive, bridging the gap between the entry level model and the pricier Pros. The slight tweak to the AirPods design makes them lighter and more comfortable in the ear but the real feat here is how well the noise cancelling functions despite the lack of physical isolation from background noise. If in-ear silicone tips don’t suit you and over the head cans are a pain, these might just be the perfect headphones for everyday use. If you want on-bud volume control then you’ll still need the AirPods pro but these are now a great alternative at a more aggressive price point.

Traditional photo frames are ancient relics these days, but if you still want to give a photographic gift this Christmas, the Aura Walden has you covered. Digital photo frames can be a bit of a mixed bag but Aura have pulled out all the stops with this stunning 15” frame. Luxuriously large and beautifully presented with a delicate black border and thick white mount, this feels tasteful and expensive rather than gadget-like and plasticky. It can also be set to either vertical or horizontal orientation and can be either wall mounted or placed on a (large) shelf or table, thanks to the built-in stand. Helpfully, it’s also made with gifting in mind, allowing you to pre-load it with photos (they’re all streamed from the cloud, an account for which can be configured ahead of time) so it’s all ready to go on Christmas day. If you have the room for it, this may just be the best-looking digital frame on the market.

Gaming headsets are essentially a must for anyone without an all-encompassing home cinema system (or those with thin walls and angry neighbours), enabling you to detect enemies with pinpoint accuracy while bringing titles to life with immersive sound. Turtle Beach’s Stealth 700s provide a great balance of performance and price, delivering detailed, rich sound with a restrained, minimalist (for gaming cans) design. The selling points here, though, are a combination of a generous 80-hour battery life and the inclusion of dual USB dongles for Cross Play, which let you switch between console and PC audio at the press of a button. There’s simultaneous wireless and bluetooth functionality, too, meaning you can listen to the Empire (or PIlot TV!) podcast while gaming, improving the experience in every conceivable way.