Our tech highlights of the past 12 months, and a look ahead to what’s coming in 2022.
A note from our Global Editor in Chief, Gareth Beavis: Firstly, I’d like to say Happy New Year to all of our readers – without you, this site would be nothing but a weird vanity project that sees a few writers and editors telling each other which tech to buy. But thankfully we have millions of other people look at this site each month, and not a day goes by when I’m not incredibly grateful for that opportunity to help you buy the tech you love. While we’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2022 – both in terms of TechRadar and the wider world of tech that we cover – 2021 deserves to be mulled over one final time, before putting it in a drawer in your mind and never examining it again. In a year that began with Delta and ended with Omicron, it’s impossible to ignore the impact of the pandemic on the world of tech over the past 12 months – so much was delayed, or outright cancelled, as a result of the disruption the virus wrought on global manufacturing and supply chains. However, there were still plenty of product launches to get excited about, and flashes of innovation that got us talking. For our round-up of 2021, TechRadar’s editors and writers have been looking back on the year that was in their particular field – and looking forward to what’s coming down the line in 2022. James Peckham, Phones Editor, writes… 2021 has been an odd year for smartphones, with a multitude of delayed launches, and some notably ‘missing’ handsets that we thought we’d see – for example, there was no Samsung Galaxy Note 21 or OnePlus 9T. Much of this is due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic on global manufacturing and supply chains. We have, though, still seen a whole host of fantastic handsets launched in the past 12 months, from the Samsung Galaxy S21 and iPhone 13 series to Google’s Pixel 6 duo, while brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme and OnePlus really established themselves as top-tier players with impressive releases. 2021 was also the year that foldables came of age. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 was a highlight for those looking for a folding smartphone that really works, although it’s still eye-wateringly expensive. Elsewhere,5G increasingly became the mainstream standard for connectivity, with most new smartphones supporting it and network coverage expanding around the world. The smartphone world also lost one of its big names, with LG announcing that it would cease making new handsets; sadly this means the previously revealed LG Rollable won’t be seeing the light of day. 2021 hasn’t been a game-changing year for mobile technology, but the field has seen a steady stream of improvements and innovations that have kept things interesting both for those who follow the industry and for those of us looking to upgrade our phones. You can catch up with all the biggest developments in our round-up of the year in phones. Jessica Weatherbed, Computing Writer, writes… 2021 has been a rollercoaster ride for the computing market, with the ongoing chip shortages making graphics cards harder to find than a needle in a haystack for PC gamers and desktop building enthusiasts. Meanwhile, Apple enjoyed seeing customers scrambling to get their hands on its latest M1 Pro and M1 Max-powered MacBook Pro laptops.
