10 Electronic Devices in High Demand This Holiday Season

From high-end PCs such as the MacBook Pro to smart speakers with trainable virtual assistants such as Google Home, the choices are many this holiday season.

No surprise here, but Apple’s iPhone 7 will top many wish lists this year. The smartphone comes in two screen sizes—4.7 inches and 5.5 inches—and runs on the company’s new A10 Fusion processor. The iPhone 7 is also splash-resistant and comes with the most advanced iPhone camera ever offered. It’s also the first iPhone to not include a headphone jack. Pricing starts at $649 unlocked.

Microsoft’s Surface Book is a two-in-one hybrid that runs on Windows 10. The machine, which comes in both Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 flavors, features a 13.5-inch screen and up to 16 hours of battery life for the highest-end Performance Base model. The Surface Book works with Microsoft’s Surface Pen stylus and its screen doubles as a touch display. It’s the finest computer Microsoft sells. Pricing starts at $1,499.

Google in October surprised many by announcing the first handsets it has ever designed and engineered on its own. The Pixel and Pixel XL come with the customer’s choice of a 5-inch or 5.5-inch display, respectively, and include what Google says is the smartphone market’s best camera. What’s more, they are the first devices to support Google’s new assistant software, Google Assistant, and can deliver up to 32 hours of battery life. Like the iPhone 7, the Google Pixel is available at a starting price of $649.

Apple recently released a new MacBook Pro. The device is smaller than earlier MacBook Pro versions, but features a brighter screen and improved specs that deliver up to 130 percent faster graphics performance than previous models. Its most important feature is a new Touch Bar that sits above the keyboard and provides users with additional touch input to interact with on-screen software. The computer is also the first Mac to support Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor. It’s a little expensive, with pricing starting at $1,799.

Since Samsung discontinued the Galaxy Note7, anyone looking for a Samsung smartphone this year likely will gravitate to the Galaxy S7. The smartphone comes in two versions. The first, the Galaxy S7, has a 5.1-inch screen with a traditional bezel. The second, the Galaxy S7 Edge, has a 5.5-inch screen and curved sides to deliver additional software functionality. Both devices are water-resistant, come with high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon processors and offer fast-charging. The smartphones start at $670 unlocked.

The Oculus Rift is widely regarded as one of the best virtual-reality headsets to get right now. The device is a headset that takes content from a high-end PC and immerses users in a fully 3D virtual environment. The Rift, which is owned by Facebook, also supports Touch controllers for additional gameplay options. Oculus’ virtual-reality headset goes for $599. The Rift and Touch bundle is available for $798. However, before buying, make sure the intended recipient has a powerful PC capable of handling resource-intensive virtual-reality content.

The Apple Watch Series 2 is the Mac maker’s response to a growing desire among consumers to buy activity trackers. The smartwatch comes with built-in GPS for navigation features and is water-resistant up to 50 meters. It also comes with a dual-core processor and a much brighter display than the first-generation device. It’s available in dozens of combinations with watchbands and watch faces, and starts at $369.

Anyone hoping to join the smart-home craze might consider the Amazon Echo. The device, which costs $180, is a black cylinder that’s capable of playing sound in 360 degrees. It also comes with a microphone for users to make requests and issue commands to the built-in virtual personal assistant, Alexa. From the Echo, users can play music, turn on lights, control thermostats and much more.

Like the Amazon Echo, the Google Home is designed to be a smart-home complement. The device is capable of playing music and other audio and comes with a built-in microphone that listens to commands. Users can search the internet with Google Home, check the traffic and search for local businesses. Google says it plans to offer more add-ons to its features as time goes on. It’s available for $129.

LG’s B6 OLED TV is widely considered the best 4K television on the market right now. The television comes in 55-inch and 65-inch options and delivers outstanding color accuracy and nearly perfect black levels. It’s incredibly thin and runs on LG’s well-received webOS 3.0 smart TV software. Since this is a high-end television, however, it’s a little expensive: The 55-inch model is $1,800 on sale, and the 65-inch version costs $2,800 on sale. When the television was released earlier this year, its 55-inch model cost $4,000.