As 2025 approaches, there are some trends to watch out for in the PC world. We are certainly gaining additional performance thanks to advancements in technology. While this is something we always expect, things really seem to be picking up momentum, and we should start seeing some seriously fast speeds across numerous PC-related components. Alongside the advances in the components themselves, we are starting to get a feel for what AI can do and how it can help streamline performance and efficiency across a wide range of devices. While the below are just a few things to look out for, 2025 is shaping up to be a great year for technological advancements, and we should see plenty of impressive tech becoming more widely available.

4 Wi-Fi 7

Increase in availability and adoption

While Wi-Fi 7 isn't exactly new, it is becoming more widely adopted and will continue throughout 2025. Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) broadcasts its signal over the 2.4-GHz, 5-GHZ, and 6-GHz bands. Being the successor to Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 7 offers faster speeds of up to 46 Gbps, more connectivity, and more reliably offers lower latency. The 6-GHz band is what allows for lower latency and better load balance, improving overall performance. Wi-Fi 7 also has 320MHz bandwidth, which is twice the amount offered on Wi-Fi 6, and it has 4096 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) to allow for even more data to be packed in. Wi-Fi 7 is being used in more devices and can even currently be found on the new iPhone 16, giving us hope that we will see it on more phones shortly.

3 PCIe 5.0

More speed, more widely available

PCIe stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express and 5.0 is the latest generation. As we have seen with Wi-Fi 7, PCIe 5.0 is also here to improve performance and will double the amount of bandwidth and frequency of its predecessor (PCIe 4.0). PCIe 5.0 offers 128GB/s bandwidth, 32GT/s Gigatransfer, and 32GHz frequency, all of which provide double what PCIe 4.0 had to offer. As with all newer technologies, you will need compatible components to make use of PCIe 5.0, such as a good motherboard. Once you have this, you can also start looking into other components such as processors, graphics cards, SSDs, and even power supplies, all of which can feature the PCIe 5.0 technology. To give you an idea of the performance gains, PCIe 5.0 has allowed for up to 2.5x faster read speeds and up to 5x times faster write speeds on PCIe-based SSDs.

2 AI

Unlocking the potential of AI

While the verdict is still out on AI, there is no denying the impact it has had already and will continue to have in the future. At the moment, every company is trying to find a way to include "AI" in its product name, even if they don't always use AI. AI has a lot more to offer than just using Generative AI such as ChatGPT or Gemini to do your work for you. AI is also being used to monitor user behavior, and not just online. Companies can use AI models and cameras to track your movements in stores, analyzing preferences and patterns to help them better determine what customer needs are. AI is also being used to help optimize hardware, which helps to improve the performance of machine learning tasks. AI can also help provide an extra layer of security when doing certain tasks online, so much so that companies like Qualcomm are starting to include it in their networking products. AI models can be trained to do almost anything these days, and no doubt we will see more of them being offered to end-users in the near future to help us do whatever we need on our computers and otherwise.

1 Virtual and augmented reality

Going beyond our reality

Both of these technologies date back to the 1960s, but the way they're being used in our modern era continues to surprise us. There was once a time when we were all told not to sit too close to the television, and now we are strapping VR and AR headsets on and enjoying highly immersive worlds. In 2025, we can expect AI to make a bigger leap into the AR and VR arenas, offering better rendering and processing. This will be essential for those looking to create truly interactive experiences, especially those targeting gamers. The best VR headsets such as the Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro seem to be becoming more popular, and we can expect this trend to continue throughout 2025. AR and smart glasses are also on the rise, as they offer a lighter experience than virtual reality but can still enhance your normal daily experience. Older augmented reality games such as Pokémon GO have had great success and, with further advancements in technology, we will see more AR-based games that offer more immersive experiences.

Looking to the future

There are plenty of things to look forward to in 2025, even more that we haven't mentioned. Sustainable tech is coming to the forefront of the PC industry and companies are looking to make more environmentally friendly products and reduce the amount of e-waste that we are seeing. Another trend we will see is major advancements in cybersecurity. Thanks to the rise of technologies like AI, IoT devices, Blockchain, and more, cybersecurity is going to be more important than ever. With new technology comes more intricate ways for people to try to scam others and use their data in unlawful ways. Expect companies to up their cybersecurity tactics and offer more awareness to end-users, trying to make things safer for all.

Things are definitely looking interesting for 2025, and while you have to take the good with the bad, the good is definitely winning at the moment. If all goes well, 2025 could be the biggest year for advancements in the PC industry we have seen for quite some time. Like it or not, AI is here to stay and it is allowing companies to do things we could once only dream of.