In 2025, many of IEEE Spectrum‘s top consumer electronics stories were about about creating the experience you want with technology. Open-source software offered more customization for laptops and displays, devices with less distracting design received recognition with a new certification, and smart glasses manufacturers forged paths to figure out what users really want in the wearable tech.
Other stories highlighted the fascinating fundamental tech in our smartphones, like how your new iPhone stays cool and the potential for its camera to gather information beyond what the human eye can see. And we considered the effects of U.S. tariffs from the Trump administration.
We’re gearing up for a 2026 filled with many more exciting developments. In the meantime, read on for IEEE Spectrum’s most popular consumer electronic stories of the year.
Source image: Modos
When hours of our days may be dominated by screens, e-paper displays offer an option easier on the eyes. Historically, these displays have been too slow for everyday computing. But this year, a small Boston-based startup called Modos created a monitor and development kit for a display with a refresh rate of 75 hertz—comparable to some basic LCD screens. That’s even fast enough for video.
“Modos has a not-so-secret weapon,” contributing editor Matthew Smith writes. Specifically, an open-source display controller is key to the display’s speed. Modos completed its crowdfunding campaign and pre-orders are scheduled to ship in late January 2026.
IEEE Spectrum; Source images: Apple
Without the proper cooling tech, high-end smartphones risk burning a hole in your pocket—literally. In the latest generation of Apple smartphones, released in September, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max contain thin chambers of water that help dissipate heat through evaporation. Cooling phones with water vapor isn’t entirely new though: High-end smartphones from Samsung and Google also use the technique.
For more on how to keep our electronics cool, check out IEEE Spectrum’s recent special report, The Hot, Hot Future of Chips. Our editors and expert authors break down how lasers, liquid cooling, and diamond blankets could all contribute to thermal management for increasingly complex and capable chips.
DeepComputing
Most laptops can only be customized so much. Once you get down to the level of specific instructions for how the computer executes instructions—the instruction set architecture—laptops usually operate on proprietary technology like x86 and Arm.
Earlier this year, repairable computer maker Framework released a laptop that can support a RISC-V mainboard, bringing open-source architecture to the masses—or at least, developers and early adopters interested in straying from mainstream closed architectures. Later in the year, Framework also made news when it released a swappable laptop graphics module, allowing users to choose between the AMD GPU the laptop originally shipped with and Nvidia’s RTX 5070.
Vincent Walter/Purdue University
A picture is worth a thousand words, as the cliché goes. But the images taken by your smartphone camera contain more information than you might realize. While the human eye is sensitive to a limited range of visible light wavelengths, the pixels in a standard smartphone camera sensor are potentially sensitive to a much wider range of wavelengths.
Researchers at Purdue University developed a way to capture hyperspectral information by placing a card with a color chart in frame. With this technique, an ordinary smartphone could serve as a “pocket spectrometer” and identify specific chemicals for medical diagnostics, analyzing pigments in artwork, and more.
Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/Alamy
Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn into office for his second term in January, he began enacting new tariffs on foreign goods. In April, Trump announced significant changes, including a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports, as well as a 125 percent tariff on Chinese goods (now reduced to a much lower 10 percent baseline).
To learn how these tariffs might affect the U.S. electronics market, senior editor Samuel Moore interviewed Shawn DuBravac, chief economist of the Global Electronics Association (formerly IPC, or the Institute of Printed Circuits). Amidst ongoing changes, they spoke about predicted price increases, shifting supply chains, and the effect on lower-priced electronics.
Spectrum also covered how tariffs affect hobbyists and students, who often rely on components sourced from suppliers outside of the United States. And keep an eye out for more stories on the relationship between tech and government from technology policy editor, Lucas Laursen.
Mui Lab
With the sheer quantity of eye-catching tech displayed at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it’s fitting that the event is hosted in Las Vegas. But at CES 2025, some devices took a different approach. The Calm Tech Institute issued a new certification to several devices shown at CES that are designed to be less distracting and command less of our primary attention.
For instance, an e-ink tablet and a wood-like smart-home interface were among the first batch of devices that received the certification. While everyday devices bombard us with notifications, calm technology defaults to the minimum necessary notifications and more naturalistic design.
Source images: Xreal; Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
Rounding out the list, this feature article considered a fundamental question in consumer tech: What do users actually want? With smart glasses finally on the verge of mainstream use, contributor Alfred Poor compares two paths forward for the wearable tech. “Should a head-worn display replicate the computer screens that we currently use, or should they work more like a smartwatch, which displays only limited amounts of information at a time?” Two smaller companies, Xreal and Halliday, offer AR glasses that represent the two design concepts, and the tradeoffs between them.
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