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Tech gift ideas under $20

By Preslav Kateliev

Updated: Dec 04, 2019, 9:16 AM

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December is here and it's time to come up with a bunch of gift ideas. It's the season of family celebrations but as well as office parties and you'll need to stuff a lot of stockings. So, finding a bunch of gadgets and gizmos that don't cost too much is a good idea. Fear not, we're here. As long as your gift recipient is a fan of smartphones or mobile tech in general, you can find something for them here!

Charging station

If your gift's target is heavily into mobile, using not only a phone but a tablet, smartwatch, and even wireless earbuds, they are probably having a hard time changing them all without creating a mess of cables. So, they might be happy to have a charging station to keep everything nice and tidy. You can get this stand for someone who is heavily in to the Apple ecosystem — it's made to charge an Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods at once. Or something like this if they own multiple devices with different connectors.

Magnetic charging cable

Speaking of charging, there are magnetic charging cables out there. Inspired by the MagSafe connector in older MacBooks, these magnetic cables use a charging plug that you need to attach to your phone and leave it there. The cables will snap on and disconnect with ease, making it much easier and a tad cooler to connect your phone each time. There's even a glowing version for that extra festive touch. Still, these things hardly strike us as MFi certified, so we should warn you — they may not work very well with iPhones or iPads!

Wireless charger

Oh, and speaking of charging... one can never have too many wireless charging mats! Or maybe one can... let's test that limit. You can grab a 2-in-1 package of wireless charging pucks, or something cool like this foldable charger that can hold the phone upright.

Something fun

If they are a tech head, then they probably think fondly of the days when mobile phones were huge bricks, yet we looked at them like supreme tech gadgets from the future. Give them a fun blast from the past with this huge inflatable 90s cellphone?

A practical powerbank

Mobile users love to have powerbanks around — anyone can get into a situation where they need some extra power to get to an outlet. And this product here mixes a powerbank with a purse light — a small clip-on lamp with a soft light, which makes it much easier to find stuff in a purse at night.

A fitness tracker

$20 is barely enough for an actual smart watch, but there are a ton of affordable fitness trackers out there, which also happen to show the time. Like this one — it doesn't look half bad!

A Bluetooth speaker

When it comes to Bluetooth speakers, there are zounds to choose from. Admittedly, the ones in the $20 price range rarely sound very good, but you can always pick one with extra features to make up for that fact. For example, this one is a multi-colored night light and this one is a slim puck that looks cool and can fit in a lot of spots.

Selfie stick or tripod

Of course, the selfie stick is an absolute classic. Hey, your gift recipient might not be a fan of that, so here's a selfie stick that also happens to turn into a tripod and comes complete with a remote shutter button. So there!

Or, this tripod with its bendable legs — it's designed so it can be hanged and wrapped around stuff just as well as it can stand on the ground. So, an aspiring vlogger can get their hands untied.

A Bluetooth receiver

For a couple of years now, manufacturers have been removing the headphone jack from their top-tier phones. If you have wireless headphones, you barely care. But it's still a problem in the rare occasion you want to connect your phone to an old-school Hi-Fi system or to your car's aux connector. This gizmo fixes that — it is a Bluetooth receiver with an aux output. So, it "listens" to your phone's music wirelessly and then sends it to a 3.5 mm cable jack so you can connect it to the car stereo, home amplifier, headphones, et cetera.

Bluetooth to FM car player

Yeah, we said it — some car stereos out there don't have Bluetooth connectivity. So, here's a neat gadget — it plugs in to the car lighter socket and acts as a phone charger on the road. Additionally, it can connect with your phone via Bluetooth and transmit its music over FM waves. Then, you just use the car stereo's FM antenna to receive the music. Yeah, it can even work as an in-vehicle handsfree device that way.

Screen enhancer

OK, here's a weird one that'd be perfect for those that are constantly watching video on their phone — from YouTube to TV shows. It's a... big box with a magnifying glass on it, which enlarges the picture.

Sound gimmicky? Yeah, it does, and the end result might not be super-crisp. However, this box would be perfect for short burst uses — like when washing the dishes or doing the laundry. The phone will be perfectly safe from water splashes inside, and it can be placed at a distance without sacrificing comfortable viewing. Weird gizmo, but it has a couple of nice uses.

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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.