Apple has a talent for removing the annoyances from our everyday routines and replacing them with a refined sense of style. Consider earbuds: for years, you had to select whether you wanted them to be incredibly comfortable or super quiet. You choose open designs that allowed the world in, or sealed tips that kept you completely out of touch, even in a packed subway. With the AirPods 4, which have active noise cancellation, now available for $99 (was $179), all of that sounds like old history.
Sony’s new DualSense controller, known as Chroma Teal, priced at $59.99 (down from $79.99), offers a deep dark blue green that is as oceanic as it gets, and it appears to capture light in a way that few other peripherals can. This new version keeps all of the original design elements while wrapping them in a finish that changes color depending on where the light is coming from; it looks very different when held up under a desk lamp and warms up to a sort of verdant edge than when held out in the daylight and cools down to a lovely forest pond kind of tone.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro is being released into a market that is quickly losing its appetite for spending money. Tariffs and supply chain concerns are now forcing electronics prices to surge, with increases of 30% on cellphones and 69% on video game consoles and laptops, according to industry sources. In the midst of all price hike craziness, seeing the PS5 Pro for $648.99, down from $749.99, is a nice sight, especially when everything else in the store is increasing.
Google’s latest budget rival entered the market quietly in the spring, but it is already establishing a name for itself in people’s pockets. The Pixel 9a is available for $349, which is a great deal, especially since it was $499 just a few months ago and comes with a big 128GB storage.
A pair of sunglasses lies on the edge of a desk, their matte black frame catching the last rays of afternoon light that shine through a window. Those frames are the first-generation Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses, and some will argue that the second generation is more visually appealing, but when you put these on and step out the door, the appeal is more than just superficial, especially when priced at only $263 (down from $329).
Smartphones get more powerful every year but storage is the silent killer of daily routines. A new iPhone tempts with sleek design and great cameras but the jump from 256GB to 2TB is at least an $800 whammy. Enter the Lexar 2TB Professional Go Portable SSD, priced at $169.49 (was $269.99) ahead of Cyber Monday, a tiny drive that fits in your pocket and handles the overflow.
Apple’s AirPods Max have always been pricey, but at $399 (down from $599) ahead of Cyber Monday for the USB-C version, that hesitation goes away fast. These over-ear headphones deliver a full experience from the very first listen. The design wraps around your head with a breathable knit mesh canopy and anodized aluminum cups that feel substantial without weighing you down. Weighing under a pound, they fold flat for easy storage in the included slim case which now has a better magnetic closure to keep everything secure.
Black Friday shoppers are rushing through the aisles, their eyes transfixed to the screens and overwhelmed by discount offers, but just one machine cuts through the pandemonium with calm assurance. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 CPU, priced at $1,349 for Black Friday (was $1,599), arrives as a reliable solution for anyone who requires and expects their tools to simply work.
NVIDIA’s Shield TV Pro is a deliberate contrarian to all of the budget-priced streaming sticks and cubes. For those who want the best performance in a streaming device, the Shield Pro delivers where others just perform. Priced at $169.99 (down from $199.99) ahead of Black Friday, recent software updates in February 2025 added Auro-3D audio and new GeForce NOW titles so it stays current.
By the end of 2025, we will have far more processing power at our disposal than there was in all data centers a decade ago, and the true magic will occur when that capacity begins to trickle into our daily lives without raising a blip. Enter the latest iPad Air, with a beastly M3 chip, a device that silently gets the job done without raising a fuss. The 11-inch variant with 128GB storage is priced at $449 (down from $599) ahead of Black Friday, which significantly reduces the tablet’s pricing and makes the iPad Pro’s starting price of $999 appear a little pricey.