Powerful gaming consoles, premium smartphones, huge TVs, and sweet-sounding headphones are among the best types of gadgets you can gift a tech lover this Christmas.
Very few people can afford to spend thousands of rands to put a smile on the face of a loved one, particularly in South Africa’s current economic situation.
Nevertheless, we’ve assembled a list of the most sought-after tech gadgets we would like to see under our Christmas tree in 2022.
Because what better time is there to engage in some wishful thinking than the festive season?
Here are 15 of the best gadgets you could buy your nearest and dearest geek if you had copious amounts of cash lying around.
Apple Watch Ultra — R19,999
Apple’s first rugged smartwatch is made specifically with adventurers and extreme sports enthusiasts in mind.
It boasts the biggest and brightest display on an Apple Watch yet, a programmable side button for physical control over several functions, precision dual-frequency GPS, dual speakers, and three microphones.
It can go for 36 hours of regular use between charges, which can be extended to 60 hours in low-power mode.
Huawei Mate 50 Pro — SQ
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro deserves a spot on this list for one big reason — having the top-ranked smartphone camera in the world, according to reputed camera review site DxOMark.
The Mate 50 Pro’s quad camera system handily beats heavyweights like Google’s Pixel 7 Pro and Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max.
While it’s another product that has not officially launched in South Africa, it might be on offer through direct importers. Just be extremely careful of scams.
Of course, you should not even consider the Mate 50 Pro if you don’t see yourself daily-driving a smartphone without Google’s official apps or Google Mobile Services (GMS).
Huawei Mobile Services fills many gaps, but requires you to use the YouTube mobile website or third-party apps, and access Gmail via another supported mail reader. There are ways to get Google Maps to work, albeit without being able to sign in and store your trip history.
Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones — R7,999
Numerous well-known tech sites and individual users have called these wireless headphones the best on the market.
Aside from boasting excellent sound quality and industry-leading noise cancellation, they are praised for their high comfort level and can be controlled using your voice with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.
They can also be connected to two Bluetooth devices simultaneously, making it easy to jump between working on your computer and taking a wireless call on your smartphone, for example.
Valve Steam Deck — $399
Valve’s Steam Deck is not yet officially available in South Africa.
But if you can get your hands on one through an overseas contact in one of the countries where it is, it will make for one heck of a great treat.
The portable Linux-based gaming PC is incredibly capable for its size, with rave reviews praising its ability to run AAA titles at high frame rates while also having a reasonably long-lasting battery.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 — R36,999
Folding smartphones certainly aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there is one thing that most tech reviewers agree on — Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the best of the bunch.
Samsung has gradually convinced more sceptical consumers that foldables can be reliable, by improving the durability of the phone’s hinge and screen with every new generation.
The latest iteration was launched in August 2022 and features a folding display with 1,812×2,176 resolution, external display with 904×2,316 pixels, and support for Samsung’s productivity-focused S-Pen stylus.
Other features include a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, high-end triple rear camera system, and two selfie cameras — one on the external screen and another under the internal display.
Microsoft Xbox Series X|S — R11,999/R6,999
Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S consoles are the most cost-effective way to play the company’s vast library of Game Pass titles.
The bigger and more expensive Series X can deliver up to 120 frames per second in the latest AAA titles running at 4K, while the more affordable Series S can do the same at a 1440p resolution.
Sony PSVR 2 headset and controllers — R13,999
Sony’s next-generation virtual reality headset and accompanying controllers for the PlayStation 5 promise to deliver a more immersive VR gameplay experience than its predecessor.
Its big new features include headset feedback, eye tracking, 3D audio, and adaptive triggers and haptic feedback on the controllers, similar to the PlayStation 5’s DualSense remotes.
The headset boasts a 2,000×2,040 resolution per eye, and the system requires no separate camera for tracking the player’s movements.
Instead, built-in cameras in the headset provide inside-out movement sensing.
Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 — R34,999
When it comes to an immersive gaming experience, there are few monitors on the market in South Africa that can beat Samsung’s 49-inch Odyssey Neo G9.
It boasts a dual quad HD resolution of 5,120 x 1,440, 240Hz refresh rate, and super fast 1ms response time.
Its panel consists of quantum mini-LEDs that support 2,048 local dimming zones, a 2,000-nit peak brightness, and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
Sony PlayStation 5 — R13,499
Like the Series X|S, the PlayStation 5 has been around for over two years, but it is still in low stock due to massive demand.
Sony’s extensive roster of exclusive AAA games is its strongest advantage over Microsoft. At the same time, the PS5’s DualSense controller also offers a unique in-game experience by responding to in-game environments, events, and player actions.
TCL 98-inch QLED 4K TV — R99,999
Not counting so-called “Laser TVs”, which are actually projectors, the biggest TVs generally available to consumers in South Africa measure 98 inches.
While you can get one of these from Samsung for around R200,000, you can pay half that price for the recently-launched TCL version.
TCL’s TVs are highly-rated in the US and often among Amazon.com’s best sellers.
The TCL 98-inch QLED 4K TV is Imax-Enhanced, supports Dolby Vision IQ and Dolby Atmos, and has a 120Hz MEMC refresh rate.
You also get access to a wide range of apps as it features built-in Google TV.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro — R26,899
The iPhone 14 Pro has a modest set of upgrades over its predecessor but is nonetheless the best smartphone running iOS that you can buy right now.
It boasts Apple’s fastest mobile chip — the A16 Bionic — coupled with a super-bright display, powerful rear and front cameras, and ditches the iPhone notch for a pill-shaped cutout called the “Dynamic Island”.
The latter integrates with iOS to offer some functionality — like displaying minimised versions of apps running in the background.
EcoFlow River Pro — R14,999
Give the gift of power during load-shedding this Christmas.
There are many compact lithium-ion-powered portable power stations on the market, but few are as refined as those sold by EcoFlow.
The River Pro unit offers 720Wh of capacity and 600W output, ideal for powering several electronic devices during a typical stint of load-shedding.
Its patented X Stream charging system is also capable of refilling the battery from 0-100% in a very short 1 hour and 40 minutes, making it one of the fastest charging power stations on the market.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro — R9,999
The Galaxy Watch 5 smartwatches are good options for those comfortable with Google’s software ecosystem, as they run its latest version of WearOS.
The high-end Galaxy Watch 5 packs an impressive array of fitness, health, and other “smart” features in a titanium case with strong sapphire crystal glass for its display.
It is powered by a 590mAh battery that can last up to 80 hours with GPS turned on.
Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 — Starting from R54,999
This gaming laptop is unlike anything on the market, with an additional display between the keyboard and main screen providing more room for in-game content or multimedia editing tools.
The entry-level model from Evetech with the pricing mentioned above boasts an AMD Ryzen 9-6900HX processor, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 512GB of fast NVMe SSD storage, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB graphics card, and 1,920 x 1,200 main display with 165Hz refresh rate.
The top-specced version, priced at R97,499, gets the same processor, but doubles the RAM to 64GB, bumps NVMe storage to 4TB, and upgrades the graphics card to an RTX 3080 Ti 16GB.
The display on the latter model also boasts a larger 2,560×1,600 resolution for crisper visuals.
Apple iPad Air 2022 — R13,199
Although iOS and Android fans often lock horns over what smartphone ecosystem is the best, many of the latter would quickly admit that when it comes to tablets — Apple reigns supreme.
Apple’s iPads generally provide snappier and more stable performance thanks to highly-optimised iPadOS software, and come in more premium-feeling chassis.
But at the top end of its options, the iPad Pro’s proposition becomes difficult to justify considering that it begins to cross lines with Apple’s MacBook laptops.
That’s why we’ve recommended the thin and light iPad Air, a much more affordable yet very capable tablet suited for the average user.
