Honestly, compiling the biggest losers for Engadget is more fun than talking up the winners. While we reviewed nothing as atrocious as those ill-fated AI assistant gadgets from 2024, AI companies and services straddled both the winner and loser podiums.
The losers might be you, the American consumer. (Sorry.) In the US, anyone wanting a drone will have to find something that isn’t made by DJI. The company has been targeted by regulators since 2017 over concerns its products could spy on sensitive US infrastructure on behalf of China.
Engadget
The problem is DJI has such a high market share (over 75 percent) that its absence will effectively upend the industry. Oh, and its drones are consistently the best too. The US government hasn’t yet attempted to work with DJI to assess whether its products pose a risk. DJI recently made a final plea for a security review, sending letters to five US agencies that could assess its products. If that fails, US drone options will shrink massively.
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In the same 12 months, EV sales across the globe are up around 25 percent this year. Germany set a record in the first half of 2025, with electric cars accounting for nearly one in five new registrations. In China, EV sales are growing so fast (over 50 percent market share) that the country is flooding the global market with gas-powered cars it can’t sell at home. However — remember this is about losers — in the US, the Trump administration ended the EV tax credit. And shock! Sales of EVs in the US slumped, with some automakers, such as Ford, seeing a 60 percent year-over-year decline.
As Sam Rutherford puts it, this policy change puts more roadblocks (his inadvertent pun, not mine) in the way of making cheaper battery-powered cars. It also affects EV investment and could mean US automakers fall even further behind their rivals elsewhere.
We also point and shake our heads at Xbox, Grok and TV streaming. Check it all out right here.
— Mat Smith
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