The Verge’s Top Tech Picks for 2025
▼ Summary
– The year 2025 was characterized by significant advancements in AI, particularly in supercomputing, data centers, and corporate investments.
– It also saw major design innovations in consumer electronics, with many smartphones and laptops becoming flippable, foldable, or rollable.
– The year was notable for the rise of gaming handhelds, including the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 and the ROG Ally X.
– The article suggests that 2025 could be labeled differently—as the year of AI, hardware design, or gaming—depending on one’s perspective.
– The author’s conclusion is based on gathering opinions from various people to determine how the year should be characterized.
Looking back at the year in technology, 2025 will be remembered as a period of remarkable hardware innovation and intense competition in artificial intelligence. While advancements in AI supercomputing and data center infrastructure captured headlines, the consumer landscape was transformed by a wave of new, flexible device designs and a surge in portable gaming power. From smartphones that bend to laptops that roll, the physical form of our gadgets took a dramatic leap forward, even as the silicon inside grew smarter and more capable. This dual narrative makes it difficult to pin a single label on the year, a point underscored by the varied perspectives of industry experts and enthusiasts alike.
The conversation around artificial intelligence shifted significantly. The focus moved beyond simple chatbots and image generators to the foundational systems powering them. Major investments flowed into building the next generation of AI supercomputers and specialized data centers, creating the immense processing backbone required for more complex models. This infrastructure push signaled a maturation of the industry, moving from experimental applications to essential, scalable utilities for businesses and research institutions. The effects of this build-out will ripple through the tech ecosystem for years to come, enabling breakthroughs we are only beginning to imagine.
On the consumer front, the long-promised era of flexible displays finally arrived in force. Manufacturers moved beyond niche prototypes to deliver compelling products you could actually buy. We saw a proliferation of smartphones with flip and fold designs, offering new ways to multitask and consume media. The trend extended to larger devices, with innovative laptops featuring rollable screens that expanded your workspace on demand. This wasn’t just about novelty; it represented a fundamental rethinking of the relationship between screen size and portability, giving users more screen real estate without sacrificing the convenience of a compact device.
Simultaneously, the market for dedicated gaming hardware exploded beyond traditional consoles. The runaway success of devices like the Nintendo Switch 2 and the ROG Ally X proved there was massive demand for high-performance gaming on the go. These handhelds blurred the lines, offering console-quality experiences in a portable form factor, often with the flexibility to connect to a larger display at home. This category’s growth challenged the dominance of stationary gaming PCs and consoles, creating a vibrant new segment for both major players and ambitious startups.
Ultimately, trying to crown a single “theme” for 2025 misses the point. The year’s true character was defined by parallel revolutions. In the background, the immense, invisible engines of AI grew more powerful. In our hands, the very shape of our devices became fluid and adaptable. And in our pockets, the power to play blockbuster games became truly portable. This convergence of smarter software and more versatile hardware set a new benchmark, promising that the tools of the future will be both more intelligent and more intimately tailored to how we live and work.
(Source: The Verge)
