HT Tech hosted the inaugural edition of its HT Tech Power List Awards 2026 in Delhi NCR earlier this week. The event honoured the best products and appliances across categories in India. In addition to this, it witnessed an insightful conversation with Mr Ken Sekhar, Head of Marketing, POCO India, who talked about the impact of rising components and memory costs on consumer electronics.
Apart from this, the event included an interesting panel discussion on the topic – ‘How AI, Imaging, Immersive Technologies and Trusted Digital Identity will Transform Consumer Experiences’. The panel included Mr Manish Misra, CIO and Head of India Innovation Centre, Panasonic India, Mr Vivek Varshney, Founder, SpeedLabs STEMLearn.AI, Ms Anuja Dhawan, AI Products at Exotel and Founder at Dubverse.ai and Mr Shashank Vaishnav, Co-Founder & CTO, STAGE OTT.
Coming to the awards, beyond the smartphones and laptops, this event celebrated the best tablets, smartwatches and hearables that are available in India right now.
How did we rate all these products?
For rating ‘Tablet of the Year’ we focused on factors such as speed, display quality, software, battery life and accessory ecosystem, while for ‘Best Gaming Tablet’ we focused on additional factors including speaker audio, cooling and gaming performance.
For hearables, we evaluated top devices based on their design, comfort, battery life, audio performance, and ANC, and for wearables we focused on factors including design, comfort, display, battery life, health features and performance in Indian conditions.
However, the winner in each category was not just picked based on jury scores. Audience voting also played a key role in selecting the winner. The final scores were calculated based on a combination of both, that is, jury scores and audience voting. Here’s the formula that we used:
Final Score = (Jury Score × 70%) + (Readers’ Poll Score × 30%)
So, now that you know how your favourite devices were rated, here are the winners in these categories.
Tablet of the year
This category honoured the tablet that provided consistent performance and proved to be reliable productivity and entertainment partner.
Winner: Apple iPad Pro M5
Other noteworthy tablets in this category worth your attention are – Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, OnePlus Pad 3, Xiaomi Pad 7, and Lenovo IdeaTab Pro.
Best Gaming Tablet
This category honoured the tablet that provided consistent gaming performance.
Winner: OnePlus Pad 3
Other noteworthy tablets in this category worth your attention are – Apple iPad Air M3, Samsung Galaxy Tab S11, Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Moto Pad 60 Pro.
Best Hearables
This category honoured the best earbuds and headphones in India that provided exceptional audio performance and ANC features.
Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6
Other noteworthy hearbles in this category worth your attention are – Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, Realme Buds Air 7 Pro, Boat Nirvana Zenith Pro and Boult Mustang Q.
Best Wearables
This category honoured the best smartwatches in India that provided exceptional health features and overall performance.
Winner: Google Pixel Watch 4
Other noteworthy wearables in this category worth your attention are – Apple Watch Series 11, Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, NoiseFit Endeavour Pro and Huawei Watch D2.
Disclaimer: At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has an affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. We shall not be liable for any claim under applicable laws, including but not limited to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, with respect to the products. The products listed in this article are in no particular order of priority.
