Innovation Awards: Tech Awards Editor's Choice

(This article is one of 16 parts in our Tech Awards 2025: Editor's Choice content series.)

The Tech Awards Editor's Choice: Innovation Awards are bestowed on products, technologies and services that are deemed to be ground-breaking and capable of drastically reshaping their respective product categories.

To make the cut, the product/tech/ service must have been announced or made available during our Tech Awards qualification period (Q2 2024 to Q2 2025) and must be in at least a working prototype form, where we can see clear merit in its implementation. It cannot be a mere concept.

OPPO Find N5 - The first foldable that rivals a premium bar-type phone

Book-style foldables aren’t new, neither are the super slim ones with USB-C ports almost touching the edges of its rims. So what makes the OPPO Find N5 stand out?

OPPO’s 2025 smartphone was a complete package before the other 2025 foldables finally caught up to it. It was the first book-style (at the time) to achieve a thickness of below 9mm. If you recall, sub-9mm is what you’d expect from today’s standard bar-type phones, premium or otherwise.

Doubling up on that is the cover screen’s 20.7:9 aspect ratio. You buy book-style foldables precisely because you can use the secondary display like a normal phone, and OPPO has ensured you get the same experience.

Many of its hardware refinements also addressed crucial issues that plagued the form factor, such as its 50% shallower and 10% narrower crease on the 8-inch Main Display. You see, the crease goes away when you’re deeply immersed in content, but your finger still feels it when multitasking. OPPO at least tried to address that, well before others paid attention.

It was also among the first book-style foldables to have imaging capabilities comparable to standard-sized premium phones, and you don’t feel like you’re choosing one feature or lifestyle over another.

In all, OPPO Find N5 showed other players that it was possible to make a foldable that equalled the premium bar-type handsets we’ve come to expect in the last decade. While others did follow up, eventually, our recognition goes to OPPO Find N5 for being the first to arrive on the scene for a no-compromise experience and strutting itself as the new norm for expectations of a lead foldable phone.

Check out our full review for more details.

Note: The OPPO Find N5’s official retail price is S$2,499 in one configuration (16GB RAM+512GB storage). Find it at OPPO Concept Stores, OPPO Online Store, Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, TikTok Shop, and other authorised retailers.

Roborock Saros Z70 – An innovative robot vacuum cleaner

The Roborock Saros Z70 makes the list this year because it’s a genuinely ambitious product that seeks to solve one of the biggest problems plaguing robot vacuum cleaners. If you’ve ever used a robot vacuum cleaner, you’ll know that they are often stumped by objects strewn on the floor. When met with one, one of three things can happen: they might chew them up, get stuck on them, or – and this is the best outcome – ignore and go around them.

To get around this problem, the Saros Z70 uses a retractable robotic arm. It seems like such an obvious solution, but executing it isn’t quite so simple. It requires accurate detection and engineering to come up with an arm that can accurately and reliably pick objects up and put them away. What’s more, the Saros Z70 can be programmed to put away these items at designated spots.

Honestly, the Saros Z70, in its current form, has some limitations and doesn’t successfully identify items all the time. But when it works, it feels like magic. Crucially, it provides a hint of what future robot vacuum cleaners might look like and how they might make our lives easier.

AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 – A processor with a ground-breaking integrated GPU

When AMD revealed the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, it sounded really ambitious. Here’s a mobile processor that’s essentially an APU (accelerated processing unit that combines both a CPU and GPU) that pushes performance into territory usually reserved for machines with dedicated graphics. It’s exactly that ambition that makes this chip one of the standout contenders for our Most Innovative Award.

The key is its integrated GPU, the gaming-grade Radeon 8060S, which is far removed from the kind of basic graphics you’d expect from an onboard solution. Paired with a first-of-its-kind expandable VRAM feature, it effectively transforms what would normally be a thin-and-light notebook into something capable of handling creator workloads or even proper gaming without the need for a discrete GPU. That alone changes the conversation: you’re no longer forced to compromise between portability and power, because this processor opens the door for a new class of ultra-mobile creator workstations and gaming tablets.

We felt that most clearly while testing it with the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 gaming laptop and tablet hybrid. Here was a machine that, in theory, shouldn’t be able to run AAA titles comfortably on its own. Yet the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 kept up with demanding tasks that would have flattened previous generations of integrated GPUs, and it did so in a chassis no thicker than a regular productivity tablet. For creators, the ability to lean on the chip’s GPU and tap into additional VRAM is a huge step forward and enables rendering, editing, or even AI workloads on devices as small as a 13-inch laptop.

Of course, it’s not perfect. A dedicated GeForce or Radeon card still has the upper hand in raw performance, and developers will still need to optimise their software to take full advantage of that expandable VRAM. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that AMD has managed something genuinely fresh here. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is proof that integrated graphics don’t have to mean compromise anymore – and that makes it one of the boldest processors we’ve seen in years.

Read our review of a laptop that features this chip here.

(This article is one of 16 parts in our Tech Awards 2025: Editor's Choice content series.)

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