The Best Tech of 2021- 11 of the Best Creators Share their Picks

2021 wasn’t the best year for a lot of us. We lost people, jobs, and the chip shortage impacted tech too. However, a bunch of good things happened in 2021. Tech kept moving on, and we got some pretty game-changing products throughout the year! As we start 2022, let’s take a minute to look back at the best tech of 2021, that will shape the future of 2022.

We got some of the best tech creators to share their thoughts on what the best tech of 2021 was. Here are their picks:

Rene Ritchie

M1 Pro and M1 Max

Rene Ritchie is one of the best Apple analysts and is known for making detailed videos about the brand on YouTube. We asked him what his favorite piece of tech was, and he answered without hesitation it was this year’s M1 Pro and M1 Max Macbook Pro’s (You’ll see this will be a popular pick throughout). Here are a couple of reasons why:

• Excellent Performance in a small form-factor
• Great Thermals and low fan-noise
• Dedicated video encoders
• More ports
• Great display with MiniLED and ProMotion
• Long Battery Life

According to Rene, there aren’t many things he would change about the MacBook Pro’s. He did mention that for his particular use case, he would prefer the 4 thunderbolt ports instead of HDMI and SDXC, but he did end that with “that’s selfish so I’m not going to push for it :)”.

MaxTech

16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro

MaxTech, one of the best tech channels with almost 1 Million subscribers gave us their thoughts on the best tech this year. To no one’s surprise, they picked the 16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro. Here are some of the reasons why:

• Larger screen is better for tasks like video editing
• Thermals are a little better compared to the 14 inch
• The performance is amazing, even compared to Apple’s own Mac Pro
• This Macbook is extremely portable, specially compared to the computers it is beating in performance
• The display is gorgeous, with MiniLED and Pro Motion
• The dedicated video encoders are speeding up their editing performance, which is extremely useful for a YouTuber.
• Best-in-class speakers

Apart from that, Vadim from MaxTech admits that the AirPods 3 were also incredible this year, with spatial audio, a new design and a better fit.

Lance Ulanoff

iPad Mini 6

Lance Ulanoff is one of the best writers and tech experts. He has created some of the best tech articles, so we reached out to him asking what his favorite piece of tech was. He replied with the iPad Mini 6. Here’s why:

• The new iPad Air like re-designe turned out great
• The screen-size remained about the same, even though Apple made the over-all footprint smaller
• It’s the best device for sketching/noting down ideas, speciall with the second-gen Apple Pencil support
• It recieved the top of the line A15 chip, which out-performs most mobile CPU’s

The only two things he didn’t like were the removal of the headphone jack (which is steadily being removed on all mobile devices) and the lack of portrait mode photography, which can be done using the A15 CPU via a software update.

Vyyyper

Sound Core Audio Frames

Vyyyper, also known as the Man about Tech has been among the best Tech YouTubers with an audience of 6 thousand subscribers on YouTuber and 9 thousand followers on Twitter. He told us that the Soundcore Audio Frames were by far his favorite tech product. They are a pair of smart glasses that play music and answer calls. They are a real peek into the future of portable technology and are just the beginning. They are the most exciting product of 2021, but have very few compromises. The downsides are the average, 5.5 hours of battery life and the sound leakage, though that depends on the environment.

Tech Hyped

M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro’s

Tech Hyped is a YouTube Channel with almost 10 thousand subscribers run by Jai Gupta. The channel has been producing quality tech content since 2016, so we asked Jai about his favorite product of the year. Unsurprisingly, he chose the M1 Pro and M1 Max Macbook Pro’s. Watch the video to find out what he loved about the devices! Meanwhile, here’s a summary:

• Great performance
• Excellent battery life
• Amazing thermals
• Great display
• More ports
• Great all-round machine

Half Man Half Tech

Apple Watch Series 7

YouTuber Half Man Half Tech has been creating quality content on YouTube since 2017 and has amassed an audience of over 10 thousand subscribers. His favorite tech of the year was the Apple Watch Series 7. Even though it was a minor update this year, the Series 7 really is a cut above the competition. Watch the video for the full explanation, meanwhile here’s the summary:

• Convenient for notifications
• Excellent fitness tracking and workouts
• Great Sleep Tracking
• Works sleamlessly with the iPhone
• Great with Reminders and Calendar app

iCave Dave

M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro’s

iCave Dave is a great Apple YouTuber and covers all things Apple. He has amassed an audience of nearly 11 thousand subscribers and has created content on YouTube since June 2020. We asked him about his pick for the favorite tech of the year, and he answered with the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro’s. Watch the video to know his full take, meanwhile here’s a summary:

• Great performance
• Excellent battery life
• Amazing thermals
• Great display
• More ports
• Gets better over time (see what he means by this in the video)

Alvin

Galaxy S21 Ultra

Alvin is a Twitter-based tech content creator, who has a following of nearly 13 thousand people. We reached out to him about his pick, and he replied with the first non-Apple product on this list, the S21 Ultra. It was the first phone released this year and has been holding up quite well over the course of the year. Here’s what Alvin had to say about it:

It is quite hard for me to choose my favourite tech for 2021, but if I really have to choose one, it will be the Galaxy S21 Ultra. This phone, although still has some cons that are irritating, has been pretty much awesome. It is what the Galaxy S20 Ultra should’ve been, and it’s all about the refinements. It might not be the best in all areas, but it has a great all-rounder camera system, a gorgeous design that remains unique even after almost a year, an excellent display, very good speakers, great productivity features (including the S Pen capabilities), fast and smooth, and it is just a very, very capable phone overall.

Alvin

Dalevon Digital

Galaxy Buds Plus

Dalevon Digital is a published photographer and tech enthusiast. We asked him what his favorite piece of tech was, and he replied with the Galaxy Buds Pro. Here’s why he likes them the best:

• Excellent design
• One of the best sounding wireless experiences
• The case is portable and supports wireless charging
• ANC and Transparency are also extremely good

The two things he would like to change are the fit (he had to buy foam tips to get them to fit properly) and better battery life

Fredward Bureau-Russell

Apple Watch Series 7

Fredward Bureau-Russell is an avid photographer, follower of the Apple Brand and a friend. He has had quite an experience with his pick of the year, the Apple Watch Series 7. Before that, here are some of the things he loves about the Apple Watch:

• Convenient for notifications
• Is great for connecting with iMessages
• Excellent fitness tracking and workouts
• Great Sleep Tracking
• Works sleamlessly with the iPhone
• Blood oxygen and health monitoring

That’s not all, because the Apple Watch saved his life, twice. Fred suffers from severe sleep apnea. His heart stops every 38 seconds. While sleeping, the blood oxygen saturation monitor was able to prove to his doctors that his oxygen saturation levels were dropped into the low 70s. Because the doctors compared the data of his one night stay on the hospital’s machine and months’ worth of data on his Apple Watch the doctors were able to get him the Sleep apnoea machine more than six months faster than the average time.

Aside from that, Fred would like to see a bigger Apple Watch, maybe a 48mm option compared to the maximum of 45mm now.

Kabir Chibber

iPhone 13 Pro

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m a pretty good tech blogger myself. For my pick, I considered many options like the M1 iMac, M1 iPad Pro, Galaxy S21 Ultra, Oppo Fold, the Macbook Pro’s, AirPods 3, Galaxy Z Fold, Flip 3, etc. But, I eventually landed on the simplest of them all, the iPhone 13 Pro. Even though it’s a minor update design-wise, here are the reasons why I think it’s the best tech this year:

• The 13 Pro packs in all the features of the 13 Pro Max
• The iPhone 13 Pro has a really long battery life, and the Pro Max is pretty much the longest lasting phone.
• The A15 CPU is excellent for gaming
• The camera’s are honestly my favorite in any flagship
• Photographic styles give a little more personality to your photos and Cinematic video is just cool, though not complete
• The display finally has 120hz Pro Motion
• I really like the new Sierra Blue
• The notch is smaller. It is still massive compared to most phones, but I appreciate that it’s a little smaller

Conclusion of the Best Tech in 2021

2021 was a crazy year for phones, and the entire tech community agrees. These are the thoughts of just some of the most popular tech creators. Make sure to check out all these creators and follow them. Get ready for 2022 because it’s going to be crazy! Don’t forget to follow my own Twitter for more. Subscribe to our newsletter to get updates, and contact us to give any feedback!