33 High-Impact Tech Gifts for People Who Swears They Don’t Need Anything

You know the person on your list who “doesn’t need anything”? They’re wrong. They just don’t need another random gadget that ends up in the junk drawer next to three old Fitbits and a tangle of mystery cables. This guide exists to save you from that fate. Every piece of tech here has been lived with, not just unboxed. We’ve slept on it, sweat on it, taken it through TSA, ignored the manual, cursed the setup process and kept only what earned a permanent place in the rotation. If it survived real life, it made the cut.

There’s gear for the friend who tracks their heart rate variability like a stock portfolio, the gamer who “just one more round”s their way past midnight, the amateur chef testing their smoke alarm and the frequent flyer who knows every Priority Pass lounge bartender by name. You’ll find health tech that makes your body feel anything but an afterthought, audio that sounds like a proper upgrade, smart-home fixes that don’t require an engineering degree and screens that encourage focus instead of frying your brain.

Consider this a shortcut through the chaos. No speculative hype, no products chosen because the press release said “revolutionary.” These are editor tested, meaning someone with deeply questionable work-life balance has already devoted way too many hours to figuring out what is worth your money and what is absolutely not. Pick anything from this list and you’re not just gifting a shiny object. You’re giving someone a daily ritual, a cleaner habit, a better sleep, a sharper game. In other words, something they most definitely will use past January.

Check out all of Observer’s luxury gift guides for the best present ideas for every person out there.