The Apple iPod was just crowned the biggest gadget of the past 30 years in T3's special anniversary awards

Choosing the most important tech product of the past 30 years is no easy task: does the iPhone deserve that accolade? The Nintendo Switch? The Apple Vision Pro? Okay, maybe not that last one. But that's the task that T3 set itself for its 30th anniversary awards — and after much deliberation it crowned the Apple iPod as the ultimate winner.

The iPod — which launched in 2001 — was deemed to be the Biggest Product in T3's Lifetime, reflecting its popularity, its longevity and, ultimately, its game-changing nature.

“The iPod was more than just a product, it was a revolution of the whole music industry, says Mat Gallagher, T3’s Editor-in-Chief.

“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.”

T3, which launched in 1996 and which is owned by TechRadar's publisher Future, also honored two giants of the past 30 years with special anniversary awards: Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, was named British Icon, while Apple's outgoing CEO Tim Cook was declared Person of the Year.

The awards cover 84 categories in total, across everything from kitchen tech to transport and from smartphones to smartwatches. The prestigious Product of the Year went to the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, while Garmin picked up Brand of the Year and the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra took the Readers’ Choice award.

Meanwhile, Lego Smart Play won the Tech Innovation Award and the Suri 2.0 electric toothbrush took the Sustainability Award. There was also four Design Awards winners, which were voted for by a panel of industry editors including TechRadar's own Global Editor-in-Chief Marc McLaren; the Nothing Headphone (1) and Dyson PencilVac were among those picking up honors there.

You can check out all 84 winners on T3 now, while the anniversary edition of the magazine is onsale now.