Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Machines and equipment of all shapes and sizes are developed to apply this scientific knowledge in ways that have revolutionised our lives. From the very invention of electricity to the discovery of silicone computing and, of course, the wonders of the internet, the world of electronics and technology continues to impress, and we’re all for it.
Every year, new gadgets and tech are released to the masses, spouting recent advances in engineering and cutting-edge scientific developments, and 2022 has been no different. From laptops to smartphones, action cameras, smart TVs, handheld consoles, headphones, cameras, VR headsets and even AI technology, these are our top tech products of 2022. If you want the best for your significant others or haven’t handed over your wishlist, you’ll find the cream of the tech-products crop below.
How Man of Many Chose the Best Tech Products of 2022
To arrive at this list of products, the Man of Many team went through hours of rigorous testing, implementation and analysis before culling it down to the very best. Over the last 12 months, we’ve worked on curated products that push boundaries and pioneer new fronts, across the automotive, fashion, lifestyle and technology verticals. Sure, we love getting the latest piece of kit in our hands, but being able to point out the benefits and shortfalls objectively is at the heart of what we do.
As a result, the Top 100 Products is primarily comprised of products we’ve tested in-house and have used extensively first-hand. While there are a few exceptions to this rule, generally due to scarcity and availability, we made note of the cultural significance surrounding each product should we not have been able to review it personally.
Best Tech Products of 2022
Our list of the best tech product releases of 2022 includes the following.
- Best Overall: Dell XPS 13 Plus
- Best Smartphone: Samsung Galaxy Fold4
- Best Camera: GoPro Hero 11 Black
- Best TV: Samsung S95B OLED 4K QD Smart TV
- Best Computer: MacBook Air with M2 chip
- Most Unexpected: OpenAI Dall-E 2
Now we’ve rounded up our favourites, let’s check out the full list.
1. Dell XPS 13 Plus
As far as laptops and computers released in 2022, it was hard to go past the Dell XPS 13 Plus. Of all the tech products we reviewed this year, the all-in-one portable device was far and away the most versatile and impressive. While it might not have the unique processor power that the Apple MacBook Air with M2 does, Dell’s flagship laptop more than made up for it in other ways.
Building on the design, power and build quality pillars we noted with the XPS 2-in-1 from last year, the new XPS 13 Plus further streamlined the system. This model introduced what we believe to be a best-in-class edge-to-edge display, while also adding a sleek keyboard, function row (not touch screen, thankfully), touchpad, and comfortable palm rest. After playing around with the XPS 13 Plus for some time, we found that the larger keycaps (zero-lattice) allowed for smoother transitions between strokes, with the top row more clear and functional than ever before.
Perhaps most impressively, Dell managed to do something that few other computer producers have been able to – develop a flagship product that delivers on value. Loaded with features, the unique laptop came in at around AUD$2,900 for the base model. While that’s not exactly cheap, the form factor, power and build quality were enough to get it over the line in our eyes.
2. GoPro Hero 11 Black
You can talk about the latest innovations in tech products without including GoPro, which revolutionised action cameras forever! The newest edition to their lineup is the GoPro Hero 11 Black, and it turns everything all the way up for creators. Adding 10-bit colour, a larger and more immersive field of view, and an improved level of stabilisation to the already impressive levels we saw on the Hero 10 Black, the company has once again outdone itself.
The already impressive feature list is complimented by HyperSmooth 5.0 technology, in-camera 360-degree Horizon Lock, three new Night Effect Time Lapse presets, TimeWarp 3.0 captures at 5.3K, and easier camera control with Easy and Pro modes. There’s even an option to record in RAW of ‘Flat’, giving video editors even greater control over their footage. Oh, and they finally improved battery life, allowing HERO11 Black users to record for up to 38% longer. This GoPro is the most powerful action camera money can buy.
3. Nothing Phone (1)
A startup company called Nothing has an Android smartphone that is making some serious waves in the market. Leveraging transparency as its signature design point, the Nothing Phone promises “less distractions. More soul. Just pure instinct, formed as a machine. Told through beautiful symbols. Deeper interactions. And brave simplicity.
Phone (1) can bring us back. To us.” It’s all thanks to the Nothing OS, which promises to limit bloatware apps that often plague Android phones. The phone is also physically transparent with white lighting “glyphs” patterned across the chassis that flashes when you receive notifications. The Nothing Phone can be configured with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, with 128GB or 256GB storage options. Powering it is a Snapdragon 778G+ CPU with an Adreno 642L.
Of course, you can’t be a modern smartphone without a quality camera, and the Nothing Phone answers with a 50MP wide camera and a 50MP ultra-wide camera, plus a 16MP selfie camera on the front. Coming in at less than $1000 for the top-of-the-line model, the Nothing Phone makes our list for bringing advanced smartphone functionality to the masses at an affordable price point.
4. MacBook Air with M2 Chip
The MacBook Air has maintained a similar form factor ever since Steve Jobs pulled it out of that manilla envelope all those years ago. Now, in 2022, the beloved thin-and-light notebook is getting a facelift and a brand-new Apple Silicone chip to boot. Bigger and better, the Apple Macbook Air M2 is thinner, lighter and faster with a bigger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, a FaceTime HD camera, and all-day battery life, and it comes in four beautiful finishes.
The all-new M2 processor takes the reigns from the previous M1 chip, catapulting performance to an 8-core CPU with better performance and efficiency cores, along with Apple’s next-generation GPU, which now has up to 10 cores – two more than the M1. Offering 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and up to 24GB of fast unified memory (that’s the RAM), it even gives the M1 MacBook Pro a run for its money. Complimented by a colour-matched MagSafe charging cable and a suite of new accessories, if you’re looking for a new MacBook but either can’t stomach the price or don’t need the power of the M1 Max or M1 Ultra, then the M2 MacBook Air is our pick.
5. Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld Console
When arcades first started popping up, it was always the dream to be able to take the arcade with you. While portable gaming platforms from Nintendo (GameBoy, DS and Switch) and Sony (the PSP and Vita) certainly did a lot to make handheld gaming a reality, walking around with a massive library of AAA gaming titles in your pocket is often out of reach. That is until the Logitech G CLOUD Gaming Handheld landed at our feet.
“Purpose-built gaming device for cloud gaming”, this incredible handheld gaming console lets you play what you went when you want with access to an entire library of games via Xbox Game Pass. Combined with a 7-inch full HD 1080p touchscreen, a 60Hz refresh rate panel, 450 nits of brightness, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor, and 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM along with 64GB of internal storage, which you can further expand via a microSD card slot, this is the pinnacle of premium gaming portability.
6. Samsung Galaxy Fold4
This list is in no particular order, so Samsung lovers need not worry about the Galaxy Fold4 coming in after the iPhone 14 Pro Max. And besides, everyone has an iPhone these days. For a smartphone that will turn heads and have people asking to check it out, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is the most innovative and eye-catching device we’ve seen all year.
Undeniably premium, it seamlessly blends smartphone and tablet functionality into one beautifully engineered form factor. In our review, we described the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 as “impossible” for its ability to push the envelope of smartphone technology “in genuinely useful ways”. More than just “incremental upgrades from one year to the next”, the Fold4 continues the foldable revolution. As this is both a superior productivity enhancer and the most forward-looking smartphone device on the market, it’s no wonder it’s made our list.
7. OpenAI Dall-E 2
The term AI gets thrown around a lot these days. Everything from smartphones to TVs has some kind of AI-integrated technology that promises to revolutionise the industry. Well, did your AI manage to piss off the entire art community? Say hello to Open AI Dall-E 2, a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from natural language descriptions.
Using only text, Dall-E 2 can combine concepts, attributes and art styles to create entirely new images, well, almost. We say almost since this AI works by diving into a gigantic database of images, which it uses to spit out expansive new compositions beyond the original canvas. Modify shadows, reflections, and textures, and create an alternate version of art inspired by original creations.
While it’s less of a product and more of a service, OpenAI Dall-E 2 is shaking up the content world, with many people asking, “what is original?” Regardless of which side of the argument you’re on, we can’t help but marvel at the sheer wonder this kind of technology brings to the world, for good or bad.
8. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Apple’s flagship phone, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, offers “innovative new technologies like the Always-On display and the Dynamic Island, which offer new interactions for notifications and activities”, alongside groundbreaking safety capabilities like fall detection. Powered by the A16 Bionic chip and all-day battery life, it is undoubtedly the best iPhone to date, mainly since they’ve found a way to make that annoying camera notch useful.
Now called the Dynamic Island, there’s a whole new way to interact with your camera, with notifications that “bubble up” enhanced functionality without taking you away from what you’re doing. As for physical changes to the phone, it features a Ceramic Shield that is supposedly tougher than any smartphone glass. It’s water-resistant (maximum depth of 6 metres for up to 30 minutes) and features surgical-grade stainless steel across the entire Pro lineup.
Apple outdoes itself in the camera department with an all-new 48MP primary camera, an advanced quad-pixel sensor, a 12MP Ultra Wide, and a 12MP Telephoto lens with 2x zoom. Plus, a 12MP front-facing selfie camera to boot. And thanks to the 2000 nits Super Retina XDR display that is twice as bright as the previous model, everything will look glorious no matter how bright or dark it is outside.
9. DJI Mini 3 Pro
It might have Pro in the title, but the DJI Mini 3 could be the best beginner drone on the market. Utilising software designed to bridge the gap between novice and professional, it’s a compact but high-specced aerial acrobatic drone that can capture all of your footage in 4K/60fps, with a 1/1.3-inch sensor that features dual-native ISO and supports the direct output of HDR footage. Trigger powerful storytelling tools like FocusTrack, MasterShots, and Timelapse at the tap of a button to take your videos from amateur to Hollywood.
Video editors will have a blast tinkering with their drone footage thanks to the maximum video bitrate of 150Mbps and D-Cinelike 10-bit colour. At the same time, its lightweight build ensures you can take it wherever you go and take it to the skies at a moment’s notice. Complimented by accessibility features that “mould to your own individual skill level” without skimping on all the bells and whistles, the DJI Mini 3 Pro is an “absolute ball”.
10. Sony WH-1000XM5
We already loved the previous iteration of the Sony WH-1000XM5 for its looks alone. But after seeing what they’ve done to the latest addition’s design, we feel like that Distracted Boyfriend meme. Our reviewer, Ben McKimm, described them as “the most polished pair of noise-cancelling headphones money can buy that also look great.” But beyond the looks, what else makes these so damn good that they’ve made the list of top tech products of 2022?
Thirty hours of battery life (40 hours with noise cancelling turned off), fast charging that delivers five hours of juice in just ten minutes, and industry-leading noise-cancelling technology thanks to their V1 processor. Going beyond low-end frequency cancellation, “the XM5 puts a much-needed focus on the high frequencies by utilising eight microphones strategically placed around the exterior.” Those same microphones also enable transparency mode that’s on par with the Apple AirPods Max.
Audio quality is improved by Sony’s DSEE-HX Extreme engine that upscales compressed music, which brings a subtle boost to Spotify listening. Audiophiles will prefer Sony’s LDAC technology which allows them to stream higher bitrate audio over Bluetooth. If you need any more convincing, our verdict on the Sony WH-1000XM5 noise-cancelling headphones is they’re “the biggest no-brainer in headphones.”
11. Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED
The Tech Industry: Sure, the Samsung Galaxy Fold4 is impressive, but can you make a foldable laptop?
ASUS: Hold my drink.
The best foldable tech of 2022 is not a smartphone but the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold. If you’ve been following the Zenbook suite of laptops, you already know they’re a breeding ground for the latest and greatest tech innovations from ASUS. Unlike previous editions, which placed an additional touchscreen OLED display above the keyboard, the Zenbook 17 Fold says f*ck it and does away with the keyboard altogether.
Two 12.5-inch touchscreen OLED screens merge together into a single 17.2-inch display. Boasting a resolution of 2560×1290, 500 nits of peak brightness and 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage, it ticks all the boxes for high-performance laptops. But what about that keyboard they got rid of; how will I type? ASUS adds a magnetic keyboard that slots nicely between the two screens in its single-screen configuration. Though if you’ve read our review, you’ll know that was one of our few gripes about the overall package.
Regardless, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold is a well-rounded laptop that pushes the boundaries of display technology in the same way Samsung has with its foldable (and flippable) smartphones. Though if you ask our reviewer, Ben McKimm, he thinks it could become the ultimate addition to a WFH setup.
12. Samsung S95B OLED 4K QD Smart TV
You’ll notice our list is missing LG, which basically means we consider Samsung and its S95B OLED 4K QD Smart TV the top pick for OLED technology in 2022. The basis of Samsung’s OLED technology is an array of 8 million self-lit pixels with Quantum Dot Technology to deliver brighter, more accurate highlights and realistic colours.
Boosted by 4K AI processing and proprietary Samsung software like Samsung Object Tracking Sound and Q-Symphony with True Dolby Atmos, it’s an all-in-one home entertainment system with a slim design that makes our knees weak. It’s so thin it’s literally called LaserSlim. Complimented by a minimal bezel surrounding a Quantum HDR OLED panel that enables HDR10+ content viewing. Samsung claims the display can “reveal what you might have missed”.
So you may want to rewatch the Long Night episode from Game of Thrones Season 8 to see the Army of the Dead in all its glory. And, of course, it’s filled to the brim with the latest smart TV connectivity features–Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple AirPlay 2, all the leading streaming apps, and screen mirroring with compatible devices. Plus, gamers can push the TV to its limits with a Samsung Motion Rate 200 and 1ms pixel response time and HDMI 2.1 for 4K gaming at 120 frames per second. Honestly, we could go on, so we’ll cut it here and say, BUY THIS TV!
13. Meta Quest Pro
It’s Meta’s most advanced VR headset, so ignore the price point for just a moment while we stan all over the Meta Quest Pro. The result of billions of dollars of research and development – which or may not be costing Big Zuck the big bucks – the latest iteration of its flagship VR device is less about VR gaming and more about the future of the Metaverse.
As we pointed out during its launch, the marketing campaign imagery leaned heavily into the concept of all-day wearing, showing several workers using the headset to create, develop and manage multiple workflows across several monitors. They take this concept so seriously they’ve upgraded the lens design with passthrough cameras that enable users to see the world in their peripheral vision. Essentially, you no longer need to remove the headset to complete tasks in the real world. But for those who need the enclosed, immersive experience of VR, there is the option to add light blockers to the sides of the headset.
Powering the headset is a new Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ platform, which Meta says is optimised for VR at 50 per cent more power than the Quest 2. There’s 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and enhanced thermals that promise greater performance. As for the screen itself, it has 37% more pixels per inch and 10 per cent greater pixels per degree than MetaQuest 2. Combined with a 25% improvement in full-field visual sharpness, 50% in the peripheral region and a 1.3X larger colour gamut than Meta Quest 2, it’s clear Meta has done plenty of homework to improve the previous design. For that, we commend them with a place on our list of the top tech products of 2022.
14. Fujifilm X-H2
Fujifilm continues to shake up the camera world, setting new benchmarks and smashing photographers’ expectations for what’s possible with its X-H2 Mirrorless Camera, the fastest and sharpest yet. The fifth-generation imaging technology, the latest evolution of its X Series, takes the brand to new heights with an all-new 40.2-megapixel sensor that boasts unrivalled image quality across stills and video. An enhanced image-processing algorithm works behind the scenes to boost resolution without compromising the signal-to-noise ratio, offering near-unrivalled image quality that is sure to unlock new levels of creativity.
In our review of this camera, we complemented the classic retro aesthetic the brand is synonymous with, not just for its looks but for its accessibility. You can easily find your way around the familiar dials, buttons and LED menu functionalities, and a 1.28-inch Monochrome LCD Monitor that delivers all the essential camera settings in an easy-to-read layout. Other prominent features include a 1/180,000 second shutter speed, 8K/30P video recording, and 160MP Pixel Shift Multi-Shot functionality that captures multiple images into one massive ultra-high-resolution picture with just one touch. Honestly, there’s so much in this camera that it’s difficult to encapsulate it all here. Basically, what we’re saying is this camera is really flippin’ good!
15. Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II
Given how advanced wireless earbuds have grown, it’s impressive how manufacturers like Bose have managed to cram so much technology into such a compact package. For instance, the QuietComfort Earbuds II has CustomTune technology, optimising audio by automatically adapting noise cancellation and sound quality to your ears’ preferences.
These innovations result in a small but complete audio package, combined with excellent built-in microphones, EQ tuning via the companion app, and simple touch controls. Featured in our Man of Many’s Staff Favourites for the 10th of September 2022, our co-founder Scott Purcell described them as “insanely comfortable” while also reducing the overall form factor from the previous generation resulting in “incredible sound quality and noise cancellation performance.”
Plus, with CustomTune, you can calibrate the sound to your ears for unique playback and improved sound quality. And with the soft ear tips and stability bands in three sizes, everything can be tailored to fit your desired listening experience.
General FAQs
According to recent data compiled by ecommerce service provider Oberlo, mobile phones were the most popular electronics, worldwide in 2022. Over the year, 96.1% of consumers reported that they owned a mobile phone, with smartphones proving to be the most popular.
According to the official Apple website, the starting price for an iPhone 14 128GB is AUD$1,399, however, the price increases for more internal storage: 128GB for AUD$1,399. 256GB for AUD$1,579. 512GB for AUD$1,899.
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