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Maybe this is the year your spouse finally wants to ditch physical books and embrace the e-reader; or maybe you want to help make your parent's home a little smarter. As the gift-giving season approaches, Lifehacker's staff of tech experts and product reviewers has selected our Gift of the Year winners across 15 categories. From smartphones, tablets, and e-readers to fitness trackers, gaming equipment, power tools, and more, these are the items we think are the most gift-worthy in 2026.
Best Smartphone Gift of the Year: iPhone 17e
If you’re buying a smartphone for someone on your list, you have no shortage of options. But for most giftees out there, the iPhone 17e is the best choice. This isn’t the best iPhone, but that’s the point. For a starting price of $699, you get an iPhone with a high-quality display, a solid single rear camera, and Apple’s A19 chip, the second-best processor the company currently makes. You sacrifice some features here, like a high-refresh-rate display, higher-quality cameras, and a faster USB-C port, but those things won’t matter to most. The majority of us want an iPhone that can take great photos, send iMessages, take FaceTime calls, and run our favorite apps. The 17e can do that, without the exorbitant price tags of Apple’s more premium iPhones. If your giftee needs an Android, that’s a different conversation, but for Apple fans, or the platform-agnostic in your life, the 17e makes a great smartphone gift.
Best Tablet Gift of the Year: iPad (A16)
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Apple’s best iPad for most people is the one simply called the “iPad.” This tablet, sometimes called the “iPad A16” or “iPad (11th generation),” comes with all the features you’d expect from an Apple tablet. It has a solid 11-inch display, Apple’s A16 chip to run iPadOS 27, a camera on the back for scanning documents and light photography, a camera on the front for video calls, and the option to use an Apple Pencil if you wish. It’s compatible with all of the apps on the App Store, and it can handle almost every iPadOS feature Apple makes—minus Apple Intelligence, but that might be a perk for some. While it’s far from Apple’s best iPad, it’s really the best for most people—that’s why it’s our pick for the best tablet to gift.
Best E-Reader Gift of the Year: Xteink X4 Pro
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Our pick for the year's most desirable gift for readers isn't one of Amazon's slick new Kindles, but a tiny, 4.3-inch Chinese import that can pack hundreds of books into a device not much bigger than your library card. The Xteink X4 Pro may have a funny name and a form factor that suggests an e-reader left too long in the dryer, but it's packed with features, including a touchscreen and a temperature-adjustable front light, that belie its $99 list price ($50 less than the cheapest Kindle). Sure, there's a learning curve involved (the native firmware is merely fine, but easily replaced with a crowdsourced alternative developed by a community of online fans), and it won't work with your existing library of Kindle books. But once you've gotten it set up, you'll realize its biggest benefit: It's small enough to fit into any pocket—or even magnetically attach to the back of your phone—so you can easily carry it with you everywhere, and read instead of doomscrolling. After all, the best e-reader is the one you actually use.
Best Headphone Gift of the Year: Sony ULT WEAR Wireless Headphones
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Picking headphones for someone can be tricky. Some people love long battery life; others are just looking for whatever pair offers the most features. At the end of the day, price is what sets the best headphones apart from the rest. However, there is one outlier that offers a great value for the money and does well enough in most categories to make most people feel like they're upgrading: the Sony ULT WEAR headphones. At their new low price, there is no other pair of headphones that offers better quality active noise cancellation, app experience, comfort, battery life, and audio quality with LDAC support for Android devices. Not to mention the ULT button, which has two levels of extra bass that will have heads rattling like they're front row at a concert.
Best Smartwatch Gift of the Year: Apple Watch SE 3
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If you’re looking to buy a smartwatch for someone in your life and you know they don’t have any strong preferences going in, the Apple Watch SE is likely the best choice for you. It might not be Apple’s most powerful smartwatch, nor does it have the biggest, brightest display, but it does just about everything you’d expect an Apple Watch to do. It pings you with your iPhone notifications, tracks workouts and sleep, and lets you send and receive texts. It has the previous-generation S10 chip, which is plenty of power for watchOS (including Apple Intelligence), and Apple should support it for years to come. You can spend more to get more features on watches like the Series 12 or Ultra 4, but for most, the SE is all the Apple Watch you’ll ever need. And, if your giftee wants the cellular option, the SE can connect to 5G, just like Apple's more expensive watches.
Best Smartglasses Gift of the Year: XReal xbx a01
These relatively inexpensive display-style glasses have that Christmas morning "woah" factor: Once the recipient plugs them into any device with USB-C video, they will instantly see a virtual display that's the equivalent of a 147-inch TV at 1080p. They’re particularly good for frequent travelers and dorm-dwellers who can’t agree on what to watch, but really, they're for anyone on your list who likes to play games, watch movies, or use their computer. (So, basically everyone.)
Best Smart Home Device Gift of the Year: Amazon Echo Dot Max
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Buying a smart home gift is a tall order. There are so many different categories to choose from, and, within each, there are many considerations to keep in mind, like platform compatibility, feature set, and price. That’s why I think the Amazon Echo Dot Max is the best smart home gift of 2026. It supports a variety of smart home platforms, including Zigbee, Matter, Thread, and Alexa. That way, your giftee can likely connect the Echo Dot Max to most, if not all, of their existing smart home devices, as well as future devices they may pick up. It’s also one of Amazon’s better smart speakers: It isn’t as small as the Echo Dot, so it’s able to fill your room with sound, but it’s also not as expensive as the Echo Studio. It’s a great balance at this price, considering the versatility it offers as a smart home hub.
Best Gaming Equipment Gift of the Year: Steam Deck
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No single gift will please every gamer, but the Steam Deck comes close. This device blurs all the lines in gaming: It’s a PC that’s the size of a handheld, and it plugs into your television like a console. Fans of gaming on the go will love the portability and the touchscreen. Console gamers will love the friendly user interface, thumbstick controllers, and finally getting the chance to play “PC exclusive” games. PC gamers will love being able to move away from their desks and play video games on the couch or at a bus stop for a change. The Steam Deck is a win-win-win.
Best Home Entertainment Gift of the Year: Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K
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You’re probably not going to buy someone a new TV for the holidays, but you can buy the media-hound on your list a gadget to make the TV they already own even better. Enhancing your watching and gaming is the mission of the Philips Hue Play Sync Box. It’s a middleman between a TV and HDMI gear like consoles or streaming boxes that analyzes video signals in real time and tells the connected smart light strip (as well as other compatible smart lights) to match what's on screen. This is great for making gaming more immersive, and it also improves just watching TV by projecting colors behind the set that complement the visuals. The result is the illusion of a larger screen and a very cool special effect.
Best Home Gym Equipment Gift of the Year: PowerBlock Elite EXP Adjustable Dumbbells
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If you work out at home, investing in some adjustable dumbbells is a no-brainer, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a "best home dumbbells" list without the PowerBlock Elite Adjustable Dumbbells near the top. The futuristic cubic look is stylish, but more importantly, it's a seriously economical, space-saving design—which is the whole point of going adjustable over a traditional rack of individual weights. The weights have flat edges so you can hold them on end on your lap, and unlike a lot of adjustable models, they're compact enough that they won’t bump into each other on shoulder or chest presses.
Best Health and Fitness Tracker Gift of the Year: Fitbit Air
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Fitness trackers come in many forms, including watches, rings, and smart bands. I have favorites in every category, but when it comes to the overall best fitness tracker for most people, the Fitbit Air is the clear winner. It does all the essentials without a subscription, including step tracking, sleep tracking, and automatic workout detection. Its battery lasts a week, and your giftee will have the option to either use the new Google Health app (which I mostly like) or bypass it and use a third-party app like Bevel. More importantly, it's a fraction of the cost of any other tracker out there, so it's a lot more likely to fit your gifting budget than something like an Oura ring.
Best Digital Subscription Gift of the Year: Bespoke Post
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If you gift a subscription to Bespoke Post, you’re giving the chance to open a different gift every month, like Christmas is lasting all year. Unlike some hyper-niche gift services, Bespoke Post lets users customize their loot boxes: One month, they can choose an outdoorsy vibe, and the next, go for a high-end coffee collection. They can even skip a month if they don’t like what’s on offer. This is an essential gift subscription for anyone buying a present for a hard-to-shop-for dude.
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Makita invented cordless drills in 1978, and it has been known for making quality drills ever since. Its new 18-volt LXT combo set is even better than its predecessors because it has a longer battery life with improvements to motor control, overheating, and dust and particulates. The drill has about 70% more power than previous models, allowing you to drill into tough materials like pressure-treated lumber more easily, and the impact driver has a three-speed control, allowing you to adjust the power to match the material you’re driving fasteners into. Since a drill and driver are the foundation of a cordless tool kit, this set, which offers better battery life and more power, stands out—it comes with two batteries, a charger, and a tool bag.
Best Kitchen Appliance Gift of the Year: Our Place Wonder Oven
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Buying a kitchen gift can be challenging because our kitchens are so personal—some of us know what a braiser is, and some of us keep shoes in our ovens. No matter who you’re shopping for, the Our Place Wonder Oven is the perfect gift. This countertop appliance combines six functions into one stylish unit with a small footprint. If the recipient has a small kitchen, they will love it for its compact nature and for the way it replaces at least three other countertop appliances (a toaster, an air fryer, and a convection oven), clearing space. If the person on your shopping list is an accomplished cook or always busy feeding a family, they’ll love it because it makes preparing fast, casual, and healthy meals a breeze without having to fire up that six-burner behemoth and use 16 pans. It can air-fry, bake, roast, toast, broil, and reheat with aplomb, and it sports an amazing steam infusion feature that makes everything come out moist—even those undated leftovers you pulled out of the freezer in desperation. It also comes with everything you’ll need to start cooking: a wire rack, air fry basket, bake pan, and crumb tray are all included. Did we mention it just looks cool?
Best Tech Gift of the Year for Under $50: JBL Go 4 Portable Speaker
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A lot of tech might be expensive these days, but that doesn’t mean all of it is. In fact, there are plenty of excellent gadgets you can buy friends and family for $50 or less. Our favorite option in this category is the JBL Go 4. This portable Bluetooth speaker is small but mighty, able to get quite loud for such a tiny device. You’ll get seven hours of playback on one charge, plus an extra two hours with “Playback Boost” enabled. The Go 4 has an IP67 rating against dust and water, so you can bring the speaker with you outdoors without worrying about ruining it. If your friends have JBL speakers of their own, not just Go 4s, you can connect them all together for a quick multi-speaker setup. It really is a versatile device, especially when you consider both its size and its price. The JBL Go 4 makes for a great stocking stuffer, Yankee Swap contribution, or gift for anyone looking for a portable speaker for home or on-the-go use.
