T3's 30th anniversary awards celebrate the gadgets that changed our lives
The gadget that defined a generation
As T3 celebrates its 30th anniversary, the technology title has looked back at the products that genuinely changed our lives while also crowning the best-designed tech of 2026.
There are very few gadgets that can genuinely claim to have changed the way we live. Every year, brands promise the next AI-powered, titanium-coated rectangle will revolutionise our daily routine, only for it to quietly disappear into the same drawer as an old Kindle charger and a tangle of cables you'll definitely sort out one day.
As part of its special 30th anniversary awards, technology title T3 has named the iPod the Best Tech in T3's Lifetime, recognising the single biggest gadget to arrive since the magazine first launched back in 1996. For anyone who remembers painstakingly ripping CDs onto iTunes or carefully curating playlists for the bus journey to school, it's a choice that's difficult to argue with.
The iPod wasn't simply another MP3 player. It completely reshaped the music industry, changed how we bought albums and, ultimately, laid the foundations for the Apple ecosystem we know today.
T3 editor-in-chief Mat Gallagher said: "The iPod was more than just a product, it was a revolution of the whole music industry. What started with 1,000 songs in your pocket introduced the world to iTunes and paying for digital music. Though ultimately, the iPhone made the iPod redundant, without the iPod, the iPhone wouldn't have existed."
Thirty years of Tomorrow's Technology Today
The lifetime award forms part of an expanded T3 Awards celebrating three decades since the magazine first appeared on shelves. While the annual event still shines a spotlight on the very best products you can buy right now, this year's ceremony also takes a moment to recognise the people and innovations that have shaped modern technology.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was named the inaugural Person of the Year, while Sir Tim Berners-Lee received the British Icon award for inventing the World Wide Web. Considering most of us spend an alarming proportion of our waking hours online, that feels like a fairly safe pick.
The rest of the awards remained firmly focused on the latest and greatest gadgets. Across 84 categories, judges selected winners spanning everything from kitchen appliances and fitness gear to watches, TVs, speakers, cars and outdoor kit.
Garmin was crowned Brand of the Year, the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3 claimed Product of the Year, and LEGO Smart Play took home Tech Innovation of the Year. It's a reminder that the most exciting technology isn't always the flashiest. Sometimes it's the brands that quietly keep making products you'll end up recommending to everyone you know.
The best-looking tech of the year
Performance is one thing, but the T3 Design Awards celebrate products that also happen to look fantastic. After all, if you're spending hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of pounds on a gadget, it may as well look good sitting on your shelf, kitchen counter or driveway.
The winners were selected by a judging panel made up of editors from some of the biggest names across technology, design and lifestyle media, including Shortlist, Wallpaper*, Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Creative Bloq, SheerLuxe and T3.
Nike claimed the Active Design Award with its ACG Air Milano Jacket, proving technical outerwear no longer has to make you look like you're halfway through climbing Ben Nevis when you're actually just heading to the office.
Dyson continued its mission to make household appliances look like props from a sci-fi blockbuster, with the PencilVac taking the Home Design award. Meanwhile, Nothing's transparent Headphone (1) picked up the Tech Design prize, continuing the company's knack for producing gadgets that manage to stand out in a market full of anonymous black plastic.
Rounding things off, Rolls-Royce's Project Nightingale won the Auto Design award. It isn't the sort of car you'll accidentally lose in a supermarket car park, but then subtlety has never really been part of Rolls-Royce's design philosophy.
If you'd like to see the complete list of winners across all 84 categories, you'll find every category and every winner over on T3.
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