It is that point of the yr once more once we have fun the most important tech fails of the previous 12 months. Have fun? It is an odd alternative of phrase, perhaps, however let’s face it, there’s a certain quantity of schadenfreude to be gleaned in trying again and reliving essentially the most resounding flops that we have been compelled to endure throughout 2025.
To make this record, our group of consultants hand-picked a longlist of notable flops and fails from 2025 (and there was so much to select from). Then we printed that record on the TechRadar WhatsApp channel for readers to vote on the worst of all of them. Our record comprises a mixture of each catastrophic fails (like our primary) and disappointing product flops.
With that housekeeping out of the best way, let’s get on with the actual present, ranging from quantity 11…
11. Prime Video’s hallucinating AI recaps
We all need recaps, right? If you haven’t watched a show for a year (or maybe longer), you definitely need the last season refreshing in your mind.
Late in 2025, Amazon got here up with the intense thought of saving you the difficulty of getting to trawl by means of YouTube looking for a superb recap of the right seasons by offering one itself. The catch was these Prime Video recaps have been AI-generated affairs, however hey – what may go flawed? AI is just about infallible, in any case.
In fact, the propensity for AI to hallucinate – get issues flawed – is well-known, and this scheme went awry in somewhat predictable trend.
A recap of Fallout season one which went dwell early in December – simply forward of the discharge of season two, which is now underway – supplied commendable manufacturing values, significantly in comparison with among the extra thrown-together, turgid and janky YouTube efforts. Nevertheless it made a few telling blunders.
Firstly, the AI recap mistakenly said that The Ghoul’s flashback scenes have been set within the Fifties (not 2077, the place they’re truly set, albeit with a retro vibe). Moreover, the AI additionally received the abstract of the season finale episode spherical its neck, fully misinterpreting the ending.
These aren’t minor errors, and so Amazon has gone back to the drawing board with this AI venture, placing it on ice for now – and we have gone again to ‘Man of Recaps’ on YouTube.
10. The ill-judged Sky Sports Halo channel
Does Sky’s Halo channel not ring any bells? That isn’t surprising, as it didn’t hang around for long.
Halo was a Sky Sports channel on TikTok dedicated to “female sports fans” and billed as the “lil sis of Sky Sports” that briefly existed for a few days in November.
The idea was to “construct a welcoming group for feminine followers, whether or not informal or dedicated, by means of enjoyable, trend-led, and relatable content material”. Sadly, Halo did not attract new feminine sports activities followers, it solely drew the wrath of ladies and women in every single place who discovered it patronizing and sexist.
The relatable content material about ‘sizzling woman walks’ and ‘matcha’ bordered on nonsensical, and it was cringingly condescending. Girls universally complained that feminine sports activities followers simply need to watch Sky Sports activities’ regular protection – and that they did not want some ridiculous, dumbed-down model.
As a post on X (one among many carrying an analogous sentiment) made clear, ladies do not want a separate platform, they only want to stay seen and be handled equally on current Sky Sports activities platforms.
Halo solely lasted three days earlier than Sky pulled the plug on the channel, admitting that it “did not get it proper” with this very fleeting and misjudged endeavor.
9. Grok’s ‘MechaHitler’ freak-out
Grok is Elon Musk’s AI platform that’s integrated with the social media site X, and it received an update in July, of which Musk observed: “You should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions.”
And yes, there was a very noticeable difference, as Grok went completely off the rails. The AI embarked on what can only be described as a tirade of antisemitic insanity, as it declared itself to be ‘MechaHitler’ (a chaingun-toting robot boss version of Adolf Hitler from the Wolfenstein 3D game of the early 90s) and put forth all kinds of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories (and worse) on X.
The posts were deleted, but the damage was obviously done, even though Grok later claimed the comparability to MechaHitler was “pure satire”. Musk blamed X users for upsetting Grok’s hate speech responses, and said that: “Grok was too compliant to person prompts. Too desirous to please and be manipulated, basically. That’s being addressed.”
New (already deliberate) Grok 4 fashions have been shortly rolled out, and these have been substantial advancements based on AI benchmarks – and put paid to the racist rants. Nevertheless, any technical achievements right here have been fully overshadowed by what occurred through the ‘MechaHitler’ incident, which fits down as one of the baffling, and positively essentially the most outrageous, tech fails of this yr.
8. Call of Duty’s terrible co-op campaign
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was unleashed in November and there was good and dangerous right here – and in addition atrocious.
That terrible component of this first-person shooter package deal was the co-op marketing campaign. As we clarify in our Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review, there’s a lot flawed with the marketing campaign it is tough to know the place to begin.
How concerning the nonsensical story, that includes a poorly carried out plot that is a frankly painful expertise all-round? Or the dreadful dialogue, or the general rushed really feel of the marketing campaign? Or the jarring adjustments within the setting all through the missions, and the overly giant nature of Avalon, the semi-open-world map that a lot of the marketing campaign takes place in?
Maybe the very worst factor is how Black Ops 7 has gone into reverse gear at alarming velocity in comparison with the cinematic thrills of the marketing campaign of its predecessor, Black Ops 6. And the abandonment of the tight, scripted set-piece goodness that we have beforehand appreciated, in favor of leaning into Avalon and a extra raid-like fashion as seen in massively multiplayer video games, leading to a a lot vaguer and extra unsatisfying (and annoying) expertise.
As our reviewer makes clear, when the spotlight is laughing at how dangerous issues are, the co-op marketing campaign turns into somewhat like watching a very second-rate and tepid B-movie with pals – pleasing in some methods, however for all of the flawed causes.
As for the multiplayer of Name of Responsibility: Black Ops 7, nicely, that is very totally different, however the co-op marketing campaign is certainly one of many largest gaming fails of 2025 (although there have been different, larger, game-related flops – as you will see under).
7. ChatGPT-5’s charm downgrade
ChatGPT-5 arrived in August 2025, however this was not a high-five second for OpenAI.
Whereas GPT-5 was marketed as having main strengths when it comes to understanding extra difficult queries while not having extra context in comparison with earlier fashions, and advancing in main methods when it comes to maths and ‘vibe coding’, these utilizing the brand new incarnation of the AI have been left distinctly unimpressed with this launch.
Why? Emotion, that is why. Folks felt that GPT-5 was somewhat chilly and abrupt compared to what they have been used to with ChatGPT, and accusations have been leveled of the new model having an emotionless tone compared to GPT-4o. Actually, such was the amount of complaints about this improve that OpenAI was forced to bring back GPT-4o and preserve it on as a substitute choice to GPT-5 (as a legacy mannequin for ChatGPT subscribers).
OpenAI subsequently fine-tuned GPT-5 with improved personality tweaking options, and within the GPT-5.1 update, sought to realize a greater stability of emotion and connection whereas steering away from the risks of sycophancy.
Some could consider present AI platforms as basically a supercharged, super-deep net search, however this episode highlights a key distinction between Google and ChatGPT (or different AIs). When persons are utilizing AI, they don’t seem to be simply involved concerning the end result – as with a primary net search – however the general expertise.
It isn’t a shocking lesson, actually, however it’s one OpenAI clearly wanted to be taught.
6. The vanishing Trump phone
The Trump Mobile T1 Phone, to give the device its full name, was revealed in June 2025. Since then, we have been questioning the place this smartphone has received to, and what is going on on with it – and clearly you’ve, too, as you voted it into our prime tech fails of 2025.
The gold and gaudy smartphone was initially marketed as ‘Made within the USA’ with a September launch date. Nevertheless, the previous declare was quickly walked-back to having an ‘American Proud Design’ and September got here and handed with no signal of the smartphone. Certainly, on the time of writing in December, the Trump telephone remains to be nowhere to be seen, leaving those that’ve pre-ordered (and dropped a $100 deposit) fairly miffed, little doubt.
There’s nonetheless continued radio silence about when the {hardware} will truly ship, with The Verge tracking the saga with weekly updates, noting that it’s doable to purchase (and obtain) units from Trump Cell – refurbished Samsung and Apple telephones – simply not the T1 Cellphone. You too can get Trump Cell’s 47 Plan and that works simply high quality, too, based mostly on The Verge’s testing.
However the gold T1 Cellphone stays mysteriously hidden backstage someplace, out of sight from the viewers who’ve pre-ordered the handset – leaving folks questioning if it will ever emerge from behind the scenes at this level.
5. The Xbox Game Pass price hike
Microsoft rejigged its Xbox Game Pass at the beginning of October, stunning players with the steepness of the hike that was actioned for the Ultimate subscription. Microsoft despatched the worth of that top-tier providing hovering to $29.99 / £22.99 / AU$35.95 a month, a 50% leap in price (or simply over in some areas).
Microsoft argued that the worth proposition of the brand new Final tier justified the rise, packing extra video games and further bits like a Fortnite Crew membership and higher cloud gaming (at 1440p decision). Subscribers, nonetheless, did not agree, and argued that some of these things did not matter to them (actually if they do not play Fortnite), then voted with their ft.
Certainly, a rash of Xbox Games Pass cancellations got here by means of so thick and quick it crashed Microsoft’s methods. You voted for this fail, too, to the tune of 6% of our ballot’s complete votes, so there’s clearly some anger about this which hasn’t diminished as the top of 2025 arrives.
So, whereas Microsoft noticed strong Game Pass annual revenue as revealed in the midst of the yr (as a part of the top of fiscal 2025 earnings report), this ill-thought-out hike may but show to be a serious wrinkle in that earnings stream.
4. The perma-delayed GTA 6
Is Grand Theft Auto 6 one of the most keenly anticipated games of all time? Undoubtedly. Is it, in fact, the most feverishly awaited game ever to be developed? Quite possibly, although the heights reached here are at least partly down to the agitation around the delays with GTA 6.
You most likely know the story, or the broad strokes of it, but here’s a recap of the full delay timeline. Grand Theft Auto 6 was originally confirmed as being in the works by Rockstar in February 2022, however it wasn’t till the initial trailer dropped at the end of 2023 that we received the primary launch date – a fairly wide-open ‘some level in 2025’ arrival timeframe. That was later narrowed to a fall (autumn) 2025 window, that means September to November of this yr, of which Rockstar said it was “highly-confident” (ahem).
Then in Could of this yr got here the primary announcement of a delay to subsequent yr, with the game pushed back to May 26, 2026 (a telling date – the anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde’s funeral, with a parallel seemingly being drawn to the sport’s protagonists).
Following that, in November 2025, got here information that we had longer to attend once more, with the second delay pushing GTA 6 again a further six months to November 19, 2026. We have been instructed that that is all about including additional polish, efficiency honing and bug fixing – and never including content material, it must be famous.
The frustration was evident on-line, although, and in our ballot, too, the place GTA 6 ended up with 6.5% of the full votes (that half a p.c is essential, because it edged the sport previous Microsoft’s Xbox Sport Go fail). Clearly, the second delay was very disappointing for players in every single place – and it felt worse due to how assured Rockstar beforehand appeared with its 2025 launch timeframe. Usually builders are fairly cautious about making extra cast-iron sounding assertions about launch dates, however not Rockstar – and we now know that its confidence was badly misplaced.
Nonetheless, the outdated mantra applies right here: higher {that a} sport is correctly completed than rushed out – though ‘rushed’ is actually not an adjective that applies to GTA 6, not remotely. It is also price remembering that other exciting big-name open-world games are nearer on the horizon (and even already right here), too.
3. Microsoft’s unwanted Copilot AI
Microsoft announced its intention to make every Windows 11 PC an AI PC in mid-October, simply after Home windows 10 reached its finish of assist. That meant a recent push for Copilot, a newfangled scheme to carry different AI brokers into Home windows 11 to autonomously perform duties for you, and a few voice input-related trimmings.
The timing was clearly about engaging Home windows 10 holdouts to make the leap to Home windows 11 and the sparkly AI-filled future, however to say it backfired is an understatement.
Folks rebelled towards the buzzwords, against Windows 11 becoming an ‘agentic AI platform’, and a thousand and one totally different variants of the sentiment ‘nobody desires this’ have been hurled at Microsoft over a wide range of social media shops.
A raft of issues have been aired, including worries about security after Microsoft made it clear that AI brokers are run at your individual threat, and pose recent avenues for potential exploits (even when Microsoft is clearly planning to defend towards that). To not point out broader issues about privateness with AI brokers working immediately together with your information – and the potential for bugs therein. (It isn’t like Home windows 11 has a foul historical past with bugs, proper?).
Nevertheless, past this, the overwhelming cry geared toward Microsoft was to neglect about including fancy AI trimming to Home windows 11, and to repair what’s already there. To address some of the issues around performance, bugs, and wonky bits of interface which have been annoying Home windows 11 customers to this present day.
Copilot wasn’t simply given the chilly shoulder by shoppers utilizing Home windows 11, although, as in early December, we additionally noticed claims that Microsoft’s having a troublesome time promoting its agentic AI masterplan to companies. As The Information reported (through Extremetech), Microsoft has purportedly lowered its agentic AI gross sales targets for employees – slashed these targets, in reality – though the software program large denied this.
On prime of that, Copilot caught additional dangerous press when the AI was discovered muscling its approach onto LG TVs. The Copilot app was added automatically via an LG firmware update, with an extra sore level – there was no option to take away it. (Not initially, anyway, although LG later mentioned it will present a option to take away the app in a future webOS replace – this simply occurred on the time of writing).
As you may think about, this didn’t go down nicely in any respect, with loads of suspicion about why Copilot was being compelled onto a TV on this approach, and the plain privateness issues therein.
So… was it a foul yr for the Copilot model? No – it was far worse than that. Perhaps ‘horrible’ nearly covers it, with Microsoft managing to impress fairly a monumental backlash towards its AI. Due to this fact it is not shocking to see Copilot was one of many prime three fails of this yr, capturing 9% of your votes.
2. The overpriced iPhone 16e
Apple released the iPhone 16e in February 2025 as a kind of middle-ground between the iPhone SE and the base iPhone 16. The core idea was a smartphone that offers the essentials of the iPhone 16 while dropping some of the trimmings – including some fancier bells and whistles – for a more affordable price tag.
There were problems here, though, firstly in that people weren’t impressed with some of the design decisions Apple made, like running with a single camera. But the biggest stumbling block was that the price tag pinned on the iPhone 16e just wasn’t budget-friendly enough.
The iPhone 16e launched at $599 / £599 / AU$999 in comparison with the iPhone SE (from 2022) that was going for $429 / £429 / AU$719 simply earlier than the brand new mannequin arrived. That is a 40% leap in value, and it proved an excessive amount of of an ask for a smartphone that has a number of too many shortcomings (together with a cut-down 60Hz show which takes away from the smooth and seamless experience you anticipate from an iPhone).
For the cash, right here at TechRadar we felt the iPhone 16e got here up quick, and the telephone shopping for public agreed with us – in a survey, over 9 in 10 people felt the smartphone was too costly for a ‘funds’ mannequin, and seven out of 10 have been ‘unimpressed’ with the iPhone 16e general. Practically three-quarters of respondents mentioned that $500 (and the regional equal elsewhere) felt a extra applicable value.
This is not to say that it is a dangerous smartphone – as a result of it actually is not as our iPhone 16e review made clear – simply that the iPhone 16e is hampered by a disappointing lack of worth. And also you clearly agreed that Apple missed the mark by a ways with pricing, judging the iPhone 16e because the second largest tech flop of 2025 with 12% of the full vote. Ouch.
1. The AWS and Cloudflare outages
2025 was a year in which we witnessed some almighty internet outages, showing just how the wheels could come completely off the net if a key service failed – leaving everyone seriously in the lurch for one reason or another.
Indeed, such was your frustration with this year’s big outages – caused by AWS and Cloudflare respectively – that you voted this the top tech fail in resounding fashion, to the tune of 50% of the votes cast. To look at it another way, these downtimes were as big an issue as every other fail on this list put together.
AWS or Amazon Web Services was the first of this year’s mammoth downtimes and it struck on October 20. It was attributable to a DNS bug that hit the Northern Virginia (US-EAST-1) area of AWS, which is a essential a part of the web’s infrastructure and handles an enormous quantity of Amazon’s visitors – which the spanner within the works completely disrupted, sparking a domino impact inflicting issues with different AWS areas besides.
The tip end result was the web being very sluggish for many individuals throughout the globe on that day in October, and a frankly staggering array of providers being affected or getting taken down outright for substantial chunks of time. That included Reddit, Slack, Zoom, Snapchat, PSN, Xbox, Steam and the Epic Video games shops, Fortnite, Wordle, Starbucks, Apple Music, Tidal, T-Cell, and plenty of, many extra – plus after all Amazon providers themselves (like Prime Video). In complete, over 1,000 web sites or providers skilled downtime points, going by Downdetector.
In addition to the sheer scope of this epic AWS fail, there have been additionally a myriad of weird repercussions nobody expected. Unlucky sensible mattress house owners discovered their mattress caught at an inclined angle, unable to be moved, or overheating, making sleep unattainable for some, and faculty exams have been disrupted, or financial institution transfers vanished into nowhere.
The Cloudflare outage adopted this and was a catastrophe on an analogous scale, successfully taking out a complete chunk of the web on November 18, only a month later. Cloudflare is once more a key participant when it comes to the infrastructure of the web – offering safety and boosting efficiency for websites and on-line providers – and generally when web sites will not load, you could be aware of seeing its title pop up on an error display in your browser.
This second main outage was attributable to a failure in Cloudflare’s personal methods (originating from a database permission change), and victims included X, ChatGPT, Spotify, Zoom, and AWS (oh the irony), with collateral injury therein knocking out varied different providers.
The lesson was clear sufficient with these outages: within the on-line world, there’s a variety of energy concentrated within the fingers of a few key cloud service providers, and will any essential aspect of these juggernaut operations go down, it might probably take out an enormous slab of web sites and providers.
AWS particularly confirmed simply how weak the web is to a single level of failure, and this has worrying implications for the longer term – particularly if you view this by means of the lens of cyber-attacks (somewhat than inner bugs) being weaponized to deliberately trigger on-line chaos.
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