The most innovative tech products of 2024

392. That’s how many tech products we’ve reviewed this year so far, and we’re bound to cross the 400 mark by the time January 2025 rolls around.

The vast majority of these tech products take a more iterative approach to their design and technology. We’re all familiar with the annual drum beat of small refinement, and don’t get me wrong: over time, it produces the very best tech. The kind that we all rely on every day.

But every good product starts with a spark of innovation. Daring to do something new. Risking failure. And despite the diversity of tech in the list below that came out in 2024, those are the threads that run through every one of them. As we prepare to move into 2025, here is the very most innovative tech our expert team of reviewers got to try out this year.

Most innovative phone: HMD Fusion

When we looked at the HMD Fusion earlier this year, we called it 2024’s “bravest smartphone.” It’s not the most technically impressive or capable phone we’ve used this year, but it is one of the most unique and ambitious.

What makes the Fusion so interesting is its modular design. Other companies have tried (and failed) to make modular smartphones work, but HMD is doing things differently. HMD makes and sells its own add-on modules — called “Smart Outfits” — but it’s also made the entire system open-source so anyone can create new modules for the phone.

Furthermore, the HMD Fusion is also user-repairable. After removing a handful of screws, you can easily replace many key components — including the display and battery. HMD will also keep replacement parts available for seven years, ensuring you can hold onto and fix the phone for a while to come.

All the more impressive is that the HMD Fusion isn’t a concept phone. It’s available for purchase in the U.S. right now for just $300. It won’t dethrone the iPhone 16 or Galaxy S24 anytime soon, but it’s not trying to. The HMD Fusion is very much carving its own path in the smartphone space, and it’s one no other company is attempting to follow.

– Joe Maring, Section Editor, Mobile

Most innovative laptop: Framework Laptop 16

When it comes to innovation, there’s no company pushing the boundaries more than Framework. The Framework Laptop 16 is more than just ambitious though — it’s downright audacious. The Framework Laptop 16 takes the modular internals of the original 13-inch model, which lets you swap out just about every component with ease, and applies it the exterior chassis as well.

Using a variety of spacers and input modules, you can make the keyboard deck look and feel however you want. That might be with a number pad to slide in to the right of the keyboard, or perhaps something a bit more experimental like a programmable macro keys or a matrix of LEDs. It’s just plain cool, if not the most practical thing in the world.

For me, all of that is fun, but it isn’t the main draw of the laptop. It’s the promise of a truly modular and customizable laptop that can last more than just a couple of years. The Framework Laptop 16 is, obviously, a much bigger and more performant laptop than the 13-inch model, featuring a AMD Radeon RX 7700S Graphics Module onboard. That means, unlike every other laptop of this category, the Framework Laptop 16 is actually upgradeable for better performance further down the line. It’s not for everyone, no, but is it innovative? You bet.

– Luke Larsen, Senior Editor, Computing

Most innovative TV: Sony Bravia 9

For the past 10 years, two TV panel types have vied for customer attention: LCD and OLED. Neither is perfect, with each chasing the most desirable attributes of the other. Innovations in OLED TV technology have sought to make them brighter, while advancements in LCD TV tech aim to improve their LED backlight technology for better black levels and, thus, contrast.

In 2023, LG Display won our innovation award for the introduction of its Micro Lens Array technology — MLA for short — which brought unparalleled brightness to OLED TVs. By closing the brightness gap between OLED and LCD, LG Display made it possible for OLED TVs to look great in a wider variety of installations.

In 2024 the singularly spectacular Sony Bravia 9 receives the honor for its new XR Backlight Master Drive mini-LED backlight tech, which has brought LCD TV technology closer to OLED than ever before. The backlight tech pairs thousands of tiny mini-LEDs with unprecedentedly granular control, thanks to a highly advanced integrated circuit developed in-house by Sony engineers.

So exciting was this new technology, it inspired Sony to break a decades-long tradition of keeping its secrets tightly under wraps. Under a strict non-disclosure agreement, Sony invited Digital Trends to its corporate headquarters in Tokyo where it not only revealed its as-yet-unnamed backlight technology but showed us how it was made.

To say we were impressed with the demonstration would be an understatement. It appeared that not only could Sony virtually eliminate the blooming and halo effects that have long plagued LCD-based TVs but it could also produce extremely subtle variations in brightness intensity, culminating in an image that was as subtle as it was vivid.

The Bravia 9 gives the world its first glimpse of XR Backlight Master Drive at work in a consumer TV. As I said in the Sony Bravia 9 review, it’s the finest LCD TV ever made, and well-deserving of both our Editor’s Choice award and the designation of most innovative TV.

– Caleb Denison, Editor-at-Large

Most innovative tablet: Amazon Kindle Colorsoft

OK — so the Amazon Kindle Colorsoft isn’t technically a tablet. However, of the tablet-like devices released this year, it’s the one most deserving of this award. Since the first Kindle debuted in 2007, the dream of a Kindle with a color display has existed. It took 17 years to get there, but we finally have it with the Colorsoft.

As you’d imagine, adding a color display to a Kindle e-reader is a pretty magical experience. You’ve always been able to read magazines and comics on Kindles, but they’ve never felt quite right having to read them in black and white. On the Colorsoft, you can read them in all of their original colors, just as the authors and publishers intended. The splash of color for book covers on your home screen and lock screen images are nice touches, too.

While the Kindle Colorsoft isn’t the first color e-reader we’ve ever seen, having a color screen paired with the rest of the Kindle experience is what makes the Colorsoft so special. Amazon’s reading setup is second to none, from the simple user interface, the ease of buying books, and the oh-so-comfortable hardware. Amazon didn’t win the race to the color e-reader market, but the wait for the Kindle Colorsoft was well worth it.

– Joe Maring, Section Editor, Mobile

Most innovative headphones: Neurable MW75 Neuro

Lately, innovation in headphones has centered around things like spatial audio, or (in the case of our 2023 innovation winner, the Hed Unity) new types of connectivity such as Wi-Fi. The Neurable MW75 Neuro headphones, on the other hand, introduce an entirely new type of functionality: the ability to monitor your level of mental focus via discreet electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors built into the ear cushions.

We can all benefit from knowing when we’re in a state of heightened focus, or alternatively, when we’re more distracted. It can create good habits like taking regular breaks from our work, but it can also teach us something about the kinds of stimuli that affect our focus, including the music we listen to.

That aspect — music listening — is a big reason why Neurable partnered with New York-based Master & Dynamic (M&D) to create the MW75 Neuro. Look closely and you may notice that apart from the telltale alternating color pattern on the ear cushions (and the $100 higher price), these are exactly the same as M&D’s excellent MW75 high-end wireless cans.

The M&D app lets you control things like noise canceling, while Neurable’s app lets you set up focus-tracking sessions, records the results, and prompts you when it detects a drop in mental focus.

Eventually, Neurable says that identifying when you’re focused will become second nature, which should boost your productivity whether you’re at work or engaged in a more leisurely pursuit.

Does it work? We’re going to keep you in suspense while we finish up our in-depth review, but suffice to say, even if you decide the focus tracking isn’t for you, you’ve still got one of the best wireless headphones on the market.

– Simon Cohen, A/V Contributing Editor

Most innovative gaming hardware: PS5 Pro

On paper, it’s hard to call the PlayStation 5 Pro “innovative.” It’s simply a souped up PS5 that supports advanced ray tracing and has an improved GPU. Look below those upgrades, though, and you’ll find what might be the future of gaming: PSSR.

Short for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, PSSR already feels like the start of the next console generation four years early. It draws on the current trend of AI upscaling in PC gaming and brings it to consoles to fix this generation’s biggest hardware hurdle. Ever since the PS5 and Xbox Series X launched in 2020, developers have struggled to release games that can run 4K visuals and maintain 60 frames per second while doing it. The PS5 Pro effectively solves that problem by using AI to upscale an image to something that looks like 4K without sacrificing frame rate.

What does that mean? For supported games, players no longer have to choose between Graphics and Fidelity mode. That’s a big deal considering how much this console generation has disappointed when it comes to delivering on Sony and Microsoft’s initial promises. Considering how well PSSR works already (even if it has some kinks to work out), it already feels like the kind of feature that will become standard in every console soon enough. Perhaps this will be how the Nintendo Switch 2 finally gives us 4K resolution when docked? We can dream.

~ Giovanni Colantonio, Senior Gaming Editor

Most innovative wearable: RingConn Gen 2

More so than any previous one, 2024 was the year for smart rings. Samsung finally joined the fray with the Galaxy Ring, smaller companies like Circular and Movano brought more options to market, and Oura released the Oura Ring 4. It was an incredibly big and busy year, but one smart ring stands out as being particularly special: the RingConn Gen 2.

The most impressive thing about the RingConn Gen 2 is that it’s the first smart ring capable of detecting sleep apnea. It’s not a feature everyone will need or even care about, but the fact that this level of health-sensing technology is crammed into a smart ring is nothing short of impressive. That’s paired with the RingConn Gen 2’s other slew of health features, including sleep and basic activity tracking, run/walk/cycle workout tracking, and more.

All of this is packed into a smart ring that’s incredibly comfortable (one of the best we’ve tested this year) and easily lasts a week or more on a single charge. Even better, it doesn’t require a subscription — something that can’t be said of other smart rings and smartwatches. The RingConn Gen 2 pushes the boundaries of health tracking in this form factor while remaining more affordable than most of its competition, and that’s something that deserves recognition.

– Joe Maring, Section Editor, Mobile

Most innovative monitor: HP Omen Transcend 32

The HP Omen Transcend 32 didn’t need to do much. With a new QD-OLED panel, great brightness, and blistering gaming performance, it was always destined to be a fantastic monitor. What’s so impressive about the display is that HP was able to take this OLED panel and turn it into a proper monitor packing features that few others are offering.

An innovative on-screen display and deep controls makes the monitor a great fit for gaming and creation, and 140W of power delivery through the display supports just about any laptop with USB-C power deliver. We’ve seen a stream of new OLED monitors over the past couple of years, but the Omen Transcend 32 is one of the only OLED displays that does work to stand out.

-Jacob Roach, Lead Reporter, PC Hardware

Most innovative speaker: Samsung Music Frame

Samsung’s Music Frame isn’t the first speaker to hide its true nature in plain sight, but it might be the audio world’s most successful chameleon act so far.

At first glance, you’d never know that it was anything other than what it appears to be — a standard (if somewhat large) photo frame. With a removable glazing and matte, you can swap in your own 8×8 or 8×10 photo, or you can order a custom high-gloss art panel to take its place. You can even wall mount it with the included hardware.

Take a look behind the frame and you’ll see two large subwoofer diaphragms and a slender power cable — about the only clues that this frame isn’t just a frame.

What’s most impressive, however, is that the Music Frame hasn’t compromised one bit on its audio mission. It’s surprisingly powerful and it produces giant amounts of bass for its size. It works with Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, and it can be added to Apple Home and Google Home.

You can use it as a full-fledged Amazon Alexa smart speaker, and there’s even support for Dolby Atmos Music when streamed from Tidal or Amazon Music. Samsung TV owners get even more: The Music Frame can act as a wireless Atmos TV speaker or it can be added to select Samsung Q-Symphony soundbars for a wider, more immersive experience.

We’ve seen speakers disguised as table lamps, bookshelves, and even wall art, but the Samsung Music Frame is the first of these designs that doesn’t give away its true nature, even when filling a room with music.

– Simon Cohen, A/V Contributing Editor