Best gadgets 2018: the top tech you can buy right now

For when only the best is good enough

How to pick the best gadgets in 2018? Whether you're agonizing over your next handset, an upgrade to your television, or what smartwatch is going to help you keep fit, there are countless options and iterations available to you – and only so much time to sift through them.

To help you overcome this problem we've collated a list of the best gadgets available right now. The industry leaders. The creme de la creme.

For each category there is only one entry and this will only be updated when a new challenger knocks the reigning champ off the top spot – so you know you're seeing the very best gadget in its relative sector.

What that means is that sometimes the list doesn't change for a long time. Quite a few of the items you'll see below have been there for months, but seen off every challenger that's come their way.

So if you're the sort of person who just wants to know what the best is and you don't care about the rest, welcome to your new shopping list...

Best phone 2018

Samsung Galaxy S9

Samsung’s best phone with a big screen and superb camera

Excellent low-light cameras

Super premium build

AR Emoji mode is overrated

Not all that different to S8 Plus

Samsung is making a big deal about the camera on the S9 range and for good reason, on the back of the S9 Plus are dual 12MP cameras, both with an impressive f/1.5 maximum aperture. At the time of writing the S9 range is the only phone with a camera aperture this wide, making its low-light prowess second-to-none.

Add on top of that the 'infinity' screen that the Samsung Galaxy range is now famous for, and this big-screened beauty comfortably takes the top spot. We thought the AR Emoji feature was overrated, but if you're in the market for the best screen and best camera on a phone, this is the handset for you.

Best laptop 2018

Huawei MateBook X Pro

Our new pick for the best laptop in the world

CPU: 8th generation Intel Core i5 – i7 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 , Nvidia GeForce MX150 2GB GDDR5 | RAM: 8GB – 16GB | Screen: 13.9-inch 3K (3,000 x 2,080) | Storage: 512GB SSD

Best TV 2018

The best TV ever? Could be!

After an underwhelming debut, Samsung’s QLED technology really needed to bounce back in style in 2018. It didn't surprise us in the least, then, to discover Samsung threw the kitchen sink in with its new Q9FN QLED Series of TVs.

As well as being even brighter and more colorful than last year’s equivalent model, Samsung's 2018 flagship screens use a completely different lighting system to combat its predecessor’s contrast problems: Full Array Local Dimming rather than edge-lit LED lighting. The FALD panel works in tandem with Samsung QLED Quantum Dots to produce a picture that's brighter and more colorful than near any we've seen come from the South Korean manufacturer.

Do those features alone make Samsung Q9FN the best TV on the market? No, but throw in technology like HDR10+ and Q HDR EliteMax – what Samsung bills as its maximum High Dynamic Range experience that’s exclusive to the Q9FN – and there's very little doubt in our mind that this is Samsung's best TV ever.

Best games console 2018

Sony's souped-up PS4 Pro is amazing for 4K TV owners

Dimensions: 29.5 x 32.7 x 5.5 cm (W x L x H) | GPU: 4.20 TFLOPS, AMD Radeon™ based graphics engine | RAM: 8 GB of GDDR5, 1 GB DDR3 | Communication: USB 3.1, HDMI 2.0a, Ethernet, Optical Audio and PlayStation Camera ports, Dual-band 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.0 | Max Resolution: 3840 × 2160 | Maximum controllers: 4 | Storage: 1TB

Best headphones 2018

Sennheiser Momentum Wireless

The complete package... for a price

Best gadgets 2018: the top tech you can buy right now