December has a way of emptying your wallet before you get to anything on your own list. You’ve covered the family, the friends, the office Secret Santa. Now you’re eyeing something expensive enough to make you check your bank balance twice.
So I went shopping for you, well, on paper, and nothing below has crossed my desk. A couple of picks cost less than a weekend away. One costs more than a decent car, and I kept it in because some years deserve a ridiculous answer. Opinions here are mine, biases included.
Have you ever felt like you’re spending $100 on a smart device, only to forget the $10/month app fee, the upgraded hub, and the extra cables? That’s the trap you fall into when glossy product photos catch your attention. So you better check the true total before convincing yourself it’s a steal.
My second filter is chores. The best treat on this list scoops a litter box. Another chases dog hair down a hallway, and neither will ever get a thank-you card.
Premium pricing only counts when it buys something no cheaper product can. A TV that folds into a sideboard qualifies,and so does a 100 MP medium-format sensor for anyone who prints. A slightly brighter copy of the TV you already own doesn’t.
Hunt the second purchase too. Several of these picks hide one behind the sticker, a subwoofer here and a lens there, and the all-in figure is the one your bank sees.
Model-year envy and resale math can wait. You’re buying for March mornings, when the holiday glow is gone and only the useful purchases are still in your hands. Nobody frames a benchmark chart.
Ten picks, ordered by how fast I’d hit buy. Prices reflect the listings I pulled, and some will move before the holidays.
The Gadget Flow team knows me as the foldable guy. Of course this one opens the list. Apple’s first folding iPhone went on sale October 23 at $1,999, and CEO John Ternus called it “the most transformational change to iPhone since the original.”
I didn’t expect a side button to be one of my favorite things about Apple’s foldable, yet here we are. Touch ID works with the phone open or closed, so I won’t have to fuss with unlocking it mid-use. Apple is also using a nano-texture finish on the 7.6-inch inner screen to disguise the crease. That’s two long-standing foldable complaints tackled at once.
For self-gifters who’ve waited out every foldable rumor, the iPhone Duo is the best phone to buy yourself this year because Apple fixed the crease and the sign-in before shipping instead of promising a patch. It’s eSIM-only. I’d buy one anyway, sequel be damned.
Sony packs 16 drivers into four slim wireless speakers and asks $2,698. For self-gifters living under a landlord’s ceiling, the BRAVIA Theater Quad is the best home theater splurge because its up-firing drivers fake Atmos height without one drilled hole.
Finding out that the low-end punch costs extra after you’ve brought the system home (with Sony not including the subwoofer) would leave a sour taste.
I share the house with three cats. I suspect Leo, the fluffy one, would glare at a rotating globe for days before trusting it.
$699 stings less once you count scoops. Whisker rates the Litter-Robot 4 for up to four cats at three pounds or more, and for self-gifters running a multi-cat house it’s the best everyday luxury on my list because the worst chore in the home goes to a machine. The app logs a weight after every visit. Useful, until two of your cats weigh the same and the scale can’t tell them apart.
I play Call of Duty on my iPhone from the sofa. The PS5 Pro is my GTA VI exit plan, and AI upscaling for 4K TVs is the reason, with 2 TB of storage so I’d stop deleting games.
Watch the seller. The listing I pulled asked $1,644.99 for a used unit from a third-party store. For self-gifters who already own a sharp 4K set, the PS5 Pro is the best console treat because the upscaling needs a good screen to show off.
My grandfather worked in geodesy, and I picked up his habit of checking glass before anything else. Hasselblad’s new XCD 2,8–4/35–100E zoom packs 16 elements in 13 groups for $4,599. The $7,399 body finally gets AF-C continuous autofocus, a Hasselblad first and overdue by years.
Together that’s $11,998, and I wouldn’t split them. For self-gifters with a serious photo habit, the X2D II 100C is the best camera splurge because it’s the first Hasselblad I’d trust with a subject that moves.
Five MicroLED panels unfold out of a freestanding sideboard in 45 seconds. No wall required. For self-gifters building a room from scratch, the N1 is the best TV purchase because the architecture stays untouched, glass walls included.
Check the floor first. The 165-inch version weighs 900 kg, nearly 2,000 pounds, and pricing starts with a showroom visit.
The one gadget here that never needs charging. Vacheron is making 255 of the first Overseas cast entirely in 950 platinum, with a salmon dial you won’t find on any other metal, and the price runs to six figures [PRICE: confirm USD with Vacheron Constantin].
For self-gifters marking a milestone they’ll retell in 30 years, the Overseas in platinum is the best heirloom buy because every phone on this list will be e-waste long before it stops ticking. Nobody else at the party will be wearing one.
Ideas show up on my walks to the dog playground with Theia, usually while I’m wrestling the lock screen to record a voice note. Meta’s 43-gram audio glasses let people me talk to the assistant hands-free instead.
At $349, the Ray-Ban Meta Audio is the best small luxury for self-gifters who live on foot because nothing plugs your ears. Battery runs 12 hours per charge.
Theia sheds like it’s her job. Shark’s UV Stain Detect shines light on dried pet messes you’d walk right past, then mops those spots harder, while the dock rinses the pad in 185 °F water.
For self-gifters sharing a home with a dog, the RV3020XE is the best floor-care splurge because it finds the mess before your socks do. It lists at $1,169.99. Buy spare mop pads the same day. One owner spent two hours failing to find any.
Dyson’s motor is 30% stronger than last generation’s. At $749.99, the Airwrap Co-anda2x is the best styling splurge for self-gifters with a long morning routine because the new straightener attachment dries and straightens wet hair in one pass.
Third-party markups top my list. A $1,644.99 used console deserves a hard look at who’s selling it, and so does any listing bragging about one unit left.
Skip anything you’d be scared to use. A watch locked in a drawer is a storage bill, and the Hasselblad body without a lens plan is a $7,399 paperweight. Pass on the Sony speakers without room for a sub, and on robot vacuums when your floors run deep shag.