The 5 most innovative tech products we tested this year (including a tri-fold surprise)

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Welcome to ZDNET's "Breakthrough" Awards for 2025, our latest tradition that celebrates the most innovative and forward-thinking technologies to cross our editors' desks this year.

Over the past 12 months, we've spent countless hours challenging the utility of foldable phones that dominated the mobile conversation, lived entire work weeks through the lens of new smart glasses and VR headsets, and benchmarked more robots than ever, from ones that can ideate and pull context through the lenses of our phones, to ones that can sweep, vacuum, mop, and accomplish every chore in between.

Also: The 40 best products we tested in 2025: Editors' picks for phones, TVs, AI, and more

Amidst this relentless wave of maturing -- yet, constantly innovating -- product categories, identifying a true 'Breakthrough' has never been harder. These awards don't just go to the fastest chipset ...