Among the best devices of the decade: iPad, AirPods & Apple Watch

Time magazine has published a list of ten gadgets, products that were chosen as the best of the past decade.

As 2019 draws to a close, some are asking which inventions might be the best of the past decade. Time magazine has now answered this question in an article titled "The 10 Best Gadgets of the 2010s." Among the products listed are three Apple devices: the iPad, the AirPods, and the Apple Watch. The iPad was originally introduced by Steve Jobs in 2010, followed by the Apple Watch in 2015 and the AirPods in 2016. Editor Patrick Lucas Austin writes about the iPad:

Before the introduction of the iPad in 2010, the idea of a "tablet computer" was mostly relegated to science fiction movies and bulky, laptop-like monstrosities with terrible software. Apple's iPad—like the iPhone before it—led to a cultural shift in personal computing and set the tone for the next decade of portable devices.

Apple has now released 18 different versions of its tablet computer, divided into several generations, including devices for normal users and professional users. But the article also listed the Apple Watch and AirPods. Austin highlighted the Apple Watch as unrivaled:

While many have tried it, no one has been able to match the polish and performance of the Apple Watch, which sets the standard for what a smartwatch can do.

Apple has introduced six generations since its initial launch, with the very first generation being unofficially counted as Generation 0. But Austin also had words of praise for the popular earbuds.

Like the legendary iPod before them, Apple's AirPods have captured the hearts, minds, and ears of music lovers. Debuting in 2016, the AirPods quickly became an icon in their own right, both for their aesthetic appeal and their larger cultural impact.

In addition to the AirPods 1, there's now a second generation and a Pro version, which Apple itself doesn't market as a third series, but rather as a separate series. The reason for this lies in the design. While the first two AirPods models don't have noise cancellation, the AirPods Pro offer exactly this feature. But to achieve this, Apple had to make the Pro version of the AirPods true in-ear buds. In addition to the three Apple products, the following "gadgets" were included in the list: