The ultimate Christmas gift guide
Treat yourself and your loved ones to some great gifts this Christmas, with our pick of the best gadgets for Mac, iPhone and iPad
WRITTEN BY ROB MEAD-GREEN
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – especially if you’re an Apple fan. Over the next eight pages you’ll discover some amazing gift ideas for anyone who owns a Mac, iPhone or iPad, so whether you’re treating friends, family or just yourself, we hope you’ll find plenty of present inspiration here.
We’ve aimed to cover a broad range of products and price ranges to suit your budget – and thrown in some surprises too. We’ve also arranged items in useful categories: Audio & Video for the music lovers and TV heads; Home Office for those people who just have to send one more email before they take a Christmas break; Smart Home & Networking for anyone who fancies shouting “Siri, turn the lights on” instead of using an old-school light switch; and Outdoor & Mobile, for the road warriors, stargazers and mountain climbers in all of us.
Finally, there are Stocking Fillers for those little gadgets and doodahs that just won’t slot in elsewhere.
All of the items we’ve featured should be readily available online or in the shops – although if some of your purchases turn from Christmas gifts to New Year ones, you could always blame the vagaries of global supply chains and those pesky customs people.
So throw another mince pie on to the fire and settle down with a glass of eggnog, it’s time for this year’s festivities to begin!
Audio & Video
1
Cambridge Audio Alva ST
£849 cambridgeaudio.com
Ideal for vinyl lovers young and old, this turntable has everything you need to set those discs spinning – from rock-solid build quality to an easy-to-fit moving magnet cartridge. We love that it has both a built-in phono stage and Bluetooth too.
2 Loewe We. HEAR 1
£99.99 we-by-loewe.com
Need some sounds for a Christmas party? Take this portable Bluetooth speaker along. Available in four colours and with up to 14 hours’ battery life, its powerful enough at 40W to make any Yuletide gathering go with a swing.
3 HomePod mini
£99
apple.com/uk
Apple’s littlest HomePod works great on its own, but it’s even better when used as a stereo pair – delivering surprisingly decent sound quality despite its tiny size. We love that it includes a Thread border router and Siri, making it easy to control smart home accessories.