Gizmodo’s Best of CES 2025 Awards: See the Winners

Lenovo Legion Go S and prototype Legion Go 2

Windows-based devices lack the console-like ease of use of Valve’s Steam Deck with SteamOS. At CES, Valve declared it was opening up SteamOS to other handhelds. First on the list is the $500 Legion Go S, Lenovo’s alternate handheld with a more standardized form factor but with an all new AMD Ryzen Z2 Go chip. AMD says this new chip should perform better than a Steam Deck at all available TDPs, but otherwise should be between a Ryzen Z1 and Z1 Extreme in performance. With a $500 starting price, mobile gamers now have another cheap option that includes full support from Valve. Then there’s the Legion Go 2, a handheld powered with the next-gen AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. It has improved ergonomics and the removable controllers that made the original a cult favorite. There’s no pricing or release date yet, but it’s one of our most-anticipated gaming devices this year.

Aurzen Zip Projector

The Aurzen Zip is the tiniest 720p projector I’ve ever seen. When folded, the $200 Zip is about the size of half an iPhone, making it the perfect on-the-go projector. The trifold projector can wirelessly mirror whatever is on your phone without a wifi connection. Two of the best features: it’s MagSafe-compatible and has a 90-minute battery life.

XReal One Pro

XReal comes to CES every year with a new version of its AR glasses design, and this year’s simple yet innovative $600 XReal One Pro truly stands out. In a nutshell, the glasses offer an external display for your eyes. While that in itself isn’t unique (Lenovo and many other brands offer similar, tethered glasses), Xreal One Pro lets you change the size and position of the screen you’re seeing through the device’s twin 1080p displays. You can also hit a switch to have the window cemented in space or follow your head. Best yet, it supports ultrawide screen mirroring on PC like the Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest 3. It’s limited by the relatively shallow field of view, though after trying on pair after pair of smart glasses at CES, we’d return to the Xreal One Pro before any of them. The device is available for preorder and should start shipping in March.

Lotus Accessibility Ring

For anyone whose movement is limited, the wearable Lotus ring provides a way to quickly make the space you’re in more accessible, without needing to rewire anything. You can turn on and off lights, fans, or anything controlled by a switch simply by pointing the ring at it and pressing the single button on the band. All the setup requires is snapping the Lotus magnetic switch covers over existing switches. Because the whole system ($349) is just the covers and the ring, you can easily travel with it and make wherever you are staying more accessible. The ultra-simplicity also makes it more usable by people with cognitive disabilities. The company says the ring and switch covers only need to be charged three times a year.

TCL QM6K TV

When it comes to TVs, bigger is always better—and it always comes with a higher price. But that’s not the case with the TCL QM6K TV, with the 55-inch model costing $749 and the 98-inch version topping out at $3,499. Before you write the QM6K off as a no-frills budget brand, check out some of the specs. As a QD mini-LED device, the QM6K can give some of the pricier heavy hitters a run for their money in the color and brightness categories. In fact, the QM6K is 53% brighter than previous models and 10% more light efficient. Plus, it has a host of powerful tech onboard to make its case, including HDR10, HDR+, and Dolby Vision. You get integrated Onkyo speakers, which should produce solid audio. However, the screen’s the star here, serving up captivating colors with deep blacks and sharp details. It’s an absolute beauty of a TV that brings all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a premium television at a fraction of the price.

OnMed CareStation

Millions of Americans live in places with poor access to hospitals and primary care. OnMed’s goal is to provide medical care remotely via easy-to-install CareStations, which only require a power outlet to set up. Simply walk into a CareStation, and you’ll be connected via life-size video stream to a nurse practitioner in your state. The UVC-sanitized private space includes a blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, scale, HD cameras, thermal imaging, and more, so the provider can remotely assess your condition and offer you guidance, a prescription, or a referral, or contact emergency services if needed. OnMed has already installed 20 stations in six states, at places like universities, prisons, homeless shelters, churches, and even the Georgia state capitol building.

Gardyn Studio

The $500 Gardyn Studio is an indoor smart garden for people who are bad at taking care of plants, allowing you to grow up to 16 plants without too much effort. Using sensors and cameras, the Gardyn Studio closely monitors each grow pod, ensuring your plants thrive. It takes care of the essentials, automatically watering and adjusting the lights. Seeds sprout in compact pods, while the integrated AI sends notifications through a phone app to let you know when to harvest your indoor crops. The app also doubles as a gardening chatbot, answering your questions and offering personalized tips to improve your green thumb.

Hisense LuxCare Mini Washer-Dryer Combo

After hearing the initial pitch for Hisense LuxCare washer-dryer, several of us at Gizmodo were eager to get our hands on it. The device is a small, retro-styled washer/dryer combo that uses microbubbles to clean small loads of sensitive fabrics, whether that’s your favorite thin sweater, lingerie, or even cloth diapers. It should be able to finish a load in the typical 80 minutes, though you won’t have to do any extra work to put your wet clothes into the dryer. The device should also put in a standard amount of detergent for each wash load, up to 15 times per cartridge, so no need to judge the correct amount of soap to use per wash. Beyond all that, it’s cute enough to sit in your bedroom, rather than your garage or basement. Hisense hasn’t revealed pricing or a release date yet, though the company told us it should be coming later this year.

MCON Mobile Controller

Phone peripheral maker Ohsnap, working with the MCON creator Josh King, offers a magnetically attached phone controller with distinctive winged grips that’s close to the size of a MagSafe charger. Closed up, the MCON mobile controller is much smaller than your typical Backbone One or Razer Kishi—small enough that it may fit in your pocket along with your phone. The recessed joysticks feel particularly smooth once you get used to the ball-tipped design, and the switches in the face buttons were nice and snappy. Already, we can see the promise of the device as a legitimately mobile mobile controller. MCON has a Kickstarter campaign ongoing for another month, with plans to ship later this year. The device should sell for $150.

Razer Arielle

Razer’s cooling and heating Arielle concept gaming chair is unexpectedly appealing. The Arielle is built into Razer’s existing Fujin mesh gaming chair and includes a bladeless fan system and motor to blow cool or hot air around your neck and spine. This is just a concept device, but Razer has been known to put weird prototypes into full production, such as last year’s Razer Freyja haptics cushion. The Fujin Pro chair normally costs $1,050, and a fully realized device like this could shift that price even higher.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-Series

They’re big, they’re expensive, and they’re brimming with AI processing capabilities. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series cards are merely a new set of mid-to-high end graphics cards from one of the only games in town, but they may also represent a shift in how gamers play the most demanding titles. Nvidia wrapped CES around its finger with its RTX 50-series launch, but even we weren’t expecting just how massive they would be, how pricey they would be, or the company’s outlandish performance promises of the $600 RTX 5070, $750 5070 Ti, $1,000 5080, and whopping $2,000 RTX 5090. But we’ve seen them in action, and the multi-frame gen in DLSS 4 promises to make achieving high framerates much more accessible. There’s still so much more to learn and test with these cards, but this is suddenly a more interesting time to be in PC gaming.

Honda 0 Series EV

The U.S. market isn’t exactly clamoring for another expensive electric car, but Honda’s 0 Series is so audacious, we can’t help but be excited to see it on the road. The promise of the transition to electric vehicles was that we’d get novel approaches to car-building and car design, but so far we’ve mostly seen electric versions of standard SUVs, sedans, and trucks. The two 0 Series cars look futuristic on the outside, but more importantly they’ll introduce new concepts in handling dynamics and, according to Honda, a new way for human drivers to interact with their cars. There are still reasons to be skeptical, and we don’t know that consumers will be moved to buy these things in real numbers. But, after a decade of watching automakers build electric versions of the same old cars, it’s exciting to see something truly new headed to dealerships.

Segway Xyber

The $3,000 Segway Xyber is an e-bike for people who hate e-bikes. It’s got enough torque and speed to humble most electric bikes and a top speed of 35 mph. Xyber can go from 0 to 20 mph in less than 3 seconds. Trying the bike in sport mode on a demo course felt incredible; the Xyber is a great looking e-bike that’s a joy to drive. It has a range up to 112 miles on a dual battery and 56 miles on a single battery. The Xyber is considered an unclassified e-bike for now, but Segway says the next version of the Xyber, coming later this year, will be street legal.

Panasonic Technics EAH-AZ100 Earbuds

It takes a lot to stand out in the crowded field of wireless earbuds, but Panasonic’s new flagship Technics EAH-AZ100 manage to do just that. Panasonic claims its $300 earbuds, available now, can offer reference class HiFi audio without needing large wired cans, thanks to “magnetic fluid drivers.” The buds’ sound quality was impressive, especially with the world snuffed-out with ANC mode turned on. The sound resolution and bass were especially surprising, even while surrounded by noisy throngs of CES goers.The brushed steel case design makes the buds feel as premium as their $300 price tag.

XGIMI Ascend

The Xgimi Ascend is a gorgeous 2-in-1 prototype ALR (Ambient Light Rejection) projector screen with a powerful soundbar. The Ascend houses a 100-inch motorized floor-rising screen for an immersive home theater experience. We’ve seen rollup displays before, but none of them match the style of the Ascend. The screen is adjustable, allowing it to be partially lowered for ambient modes, like a cozy fireplace display or a music visualization. Though still a prototype, the Ascend has the potential to attract anyone who wants a pop-up movie theater without spending tens of thousands of dollars.

Shinobi Floor

An injury during a slip or fall in the home is a threat at any age, but the risk is much greater for the elderly. And while it’s easy to laugh at those old Life Alert commercials (“Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”), the threat of a life-threatening or life-altering injury is real. Magic Shield, a Japanese company, has a solution. Dubbed Shinobi Floor, these unassuming floor panels are hiding a cool secret. There’s a patented shock-absorbing mat underneath the tiles that will cushion the fall and minimize potential harm. The panels feel like a regular floor, but upon a fall, they feel soft, yet firm. The flooring can be installed just about anywhere in the house, including the bathroom. This novel piece of health tech is currently used in eight countries in 600 hospitals and senior centers. Here’s hoping it’ll make it to a floor near you soon.

XEO Pod

The XEO Pod is more than just a haptic gaming chair—it’s an entire gaming habitat. Priced at $20,000, the XEO feels like stepping into a futuristic space capsule. It’s equipped with a 20-speaker system and haptic feedback technology, so you’ll feel every gunshot and explosion. Adding to the immersion, an RGB light array syncs seamlessly with the on-screen gameplay, creating a fully dynamic environment. Beyond its tech features, the XEO is designed for comfort, making it easy to imagine spending countless hours gaming in this ultimate nerd capsule.

Snapdragon X Elite

Qualcomm’s much-anticipated Snapdragon X Elite processor is powered by the custom Qualcomm Oryon CPU, a beefy GPU, and an NPU. Qualcomm claims the X Elite can deliver up to twice the performance of the competition while using less power. Over 50 laptop OEMs, from Lenovo to Asus, are set to roll out with Snapdragon X Elite devices in the coming weeks. In a demo, we saw how it offers quicker responses and image generation from Copilot+ and how sound engineers can use apps like Moses to have AI live mix music during live performance. Qualcomm says Snapdragon X Elite represents future-proofed hardware, as AI-powered workflows become more and more common.

LG StanbyMe 2

LG is a brand synonymous with television, for good reason. But before you get sucked into the transparent, wireless, QNED sets, check out the StanbyMe 2, a cross between a smart TV and a tablet that comes with a host of accessories that make it truly stand out. First things first, this 27-inch touchscreen QHD TV is designed to be portable, as shown by the jaunty strap or the Smart Folio briefcase. The StanbyMe 2 improves on its predecessor with a higher resolution (1440p vs 1080p) and a four-hour battery as opposed to three. LG also wisely added a magnet to the remote, so you can attach it to the TV when not in use. The device also comes with a host of AI features and games. And while you can sling it over your shoulder or hang it up like a piece of art, the rollable tripod with integrated speaker is what truly helps the StanbyMe stand out among a sea of smart TVs.

HP Omen 32 Smart Gaming Monitor Apex

There are some pairs that are straight up iconic: peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti and meatballs, bagels and lox. Now get ready for another sweet pairing—Google TV and gaming monitors. Say hello to the HP Omen 32 Smart Gaming Monitor Apex, a 31.5-inch, 4K IPS monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate that has Google TV built in, a first for HP. That means that when you’re done fragging your friends and saving the world, you can kick back, relax, and stream your favorite TV shows. Or get some work done, if you want to be all responsible. In addition to streaming shows, you can also browse apps across platforms and mirror your Android smartphone’s screen to the monitor. There’s even a multi-view mode where you can interact with your smartphone via the monitor, making the Omen 32x a veritable jack-of-all trades.

Alienware Area-51 16 and 18 Gaming Laptops

Alienware had to do something to stand out. The Area-51 16 and 18 gaming laptops, with their RGB-filled, ultra-curvy shell design and bottom panel window, remind us of the over-the-top gaming laptops of a decade ago, and that’s a good thing. There were a metric ton of new gaming laptops at CES 2025, and all of them housed the new top-end Nvidia 50-series GPUs. Alienware emerged as our favorite due its mechanical keyboard with Cherry switches. If you’re going to opt for a desktop replacement laptop, you’ll want one that feels good enough to nix a regular keyboard as well.

LG UltraGear OLED Bendable Gaming Monitor

Okay, LG’s done rollable and see-through TVs. So what’s next? Bendable. The LG UltraGear OLED Bendable Gaming Monitor is the world’s first bendable 5K2K gaming monitor. It’s a 45-inch, 21:9, 0.03-millisecond, 5,120 x 2,160 monitor that can go from run-of-the-mill flat screen to a 900R curvature, for a more immersive gaming experience. And this is LG, so you know it has OLED with all those deep blacks, crisp details, and glorious vibrancy. The Dual-Mode feature has gotten an upgrade, allowing users to switch seamlessly between presets for resolution, aspect ratio, and picture size.

bHaptics TactSuit Pro

VR continues to improve year after year. But one aspect has yet to make it to mainstream—haptics. But if bHaptics has its way, it won’t be like that for long. The company just launched the 5th generation of the TactSuit Pro, a VR haptics vest that allows you to feel pressure that corresponds to what you experience in VR. Playing a boxing game and get punched in the chest? You’ll feel a corresponding rumbling sensation. There’s also the TactSleeve, designed to replicate gun recoil or an injection. Together with the rest of bHaptics gear (there’s even a Tactosy for your feet), your VR experience gets that much more immersive.