SINGAPORE — Even as the confetti is swept away and the last notes of Auld Lang Syne fade out, all thoughts will turn to the most exciting prospect of 2017.

No, not the resolutions to be made and opportunities to be sought — we’re talking about the latest crop of gadgets set to hit shelves, from mobile phones to cameras to computers.

Why are we so excited? Because there are follow-ups, new mobiles, refreshed phones and more - and they could well be some of the best we’ve ever seen.

Here are some of the pocket-fillers that are getting our pulses racing for the next 12 months.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8. We liked the Galaxy S7. A lot. But then, the whole Note 7 drama happened and everyone forgot just what a whopping great handset Samsung had made in the S7.

The South Korean manufacturer will be hoping to dispel any misgivings with the S8, which makes the situation pretty enthralling. Throw in early indications that the next-gen Galaxy could be a truly futuristic phone, and you’ve got us hooked.

Bezel-free, 4K-equipped and only curved? That ought to do the trick - not to mention a dual-lens camera setup, better VR and a faster chip. As if specs-guessing wasn’t enough to keep us interested, there’s plenty of conjecture that Samsung will wave goodbye to the headphone jack on the S8, too. When will we know for sure? Given the past few Galaxy launches, the likeliest date is late February.

APPLE IPHONE 8. With a new Apple smartphone released every year, it stands to reason that we’ll see one in 2017. But why are we excited about it? Well, if rumours on the great gadget grapevine are to be believed, it could be a big one — not least, because it marks the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.

So, there’s every reason to anticipate the iPhone 8’s release — especially if you like all-glass, AMOLED-toting smartphones with wireless charging and no bezels. Because that’s exactly what the early evidence is pointing towards. Oh, and it might ditch the home button, too. Then again, some say it might be the iPhone 7s, which only serves to add a healthy dollop of intrigue to proceedings.

NINTENDO SWITCH. Who doesn’t a game or two? But while we previously had to settle either for a porta unit or a stay-at-home console, Nintendo is offering one that will do double duty. y console that’ll do double duty as both living room games machine and go-anywhere gaming tablet? Called the Nintendo Switch, it’s expected to be to due in March (if all goes to plan), and games will play in either mode while its modular controller has options to suit almost every gaming preference. It’ll run on Nvidia hardware, too, although the exact specs are still a mystery.

As for the screen, estimates suggest it’ll measure up at around 6.5-inches and there’s a good chance it’ll be touch-enabled. As for gaming titles, there ought to be plenty, including the usual favourites, alongside rumoured support for older content, such as GameCube titles.

NIKON D760. Camera-wise, several big names have had some impact in the last couple of years, but Nikon has set tongues wagging with the successor to its successful full-frame shooter, the D750. If leaked specs are to be believed, the Nikon D760 will retain the same 24.3MP, full-frame CMOS sensor, but the processor is said to be upgraded to the rapid Expeed 5. Frame rates should also increase, shutter speeds should be faster than ever — rumours point towards a maximum of 1/8000s — and the ISO should jump higher too.

With such a solid foundation to work from, we’d be seriously surprised if the D760 doesn’t turn out to be a stellar snapper. The only problem? We’re almost as excited about its cheaper cousin, the D620, set to be released in the first half of 2017.

PANASONIC 4K OLED TV. Panasonic’s 2017 OLED panel looks set to be a 4K whopper of a TV. It’s expected to ship in two sizes (55-innch and 65-inch), but still be seriously slim, with Panasonic’s UHD Premium form suggesting image quality should be astounding.

While the manufacturer has kept pretty quiet about concrete specs, they did say that the next-gen screen will have better blacks than ever and will be an improvement over the previous CZ950 model. (That’s no small feat: The CZ950 has arresting picture quality and an equally arresting design.)

IMAC 2017. If you’re a fan of Apple’s desktop computers, you’re in for a treat. The Apple may be shy on details for the new 2017 iMac, but the easy assumptions are that it will be more-than-5K-equipped and VR-ready, even if Apple presently lacks its own VR hardware. It will likely get a chip upgrade, too, and there could be some form of Touch Bar integration (if the MacBook Pro is anything to go by). As for the physical side, USB-C seems a sure addition, as does a storage boost and, possibly, a further slimming-down of the shell.

GOOGLE PIXEL WATCH. There was the Google Pixel and Google Android Wear. Neither quite nailed it, but both showed promise — and suggested that Apple and Samsung might finally be in for some competition.

Now, rumours say we could soon see a combination of the two: An Android Wear watch taking its cues from the Pixel. And we could see it in the first four months of 2017. Plenty of sources suggest there will be two models of Google’s wearable item (codenamed Swordfish and Angelfish), both of which are likely to carry circular screens.

MICROSOFT SURFACE PHONE. Rumours of a Surface Phone have been kicking around since 2012, but 2017 might finally be the year we finally get one. Surface machinery hasn’t always hit the mark, but it has generally offered solid hardware that delivers the best Windows experience around.

What will be in store? Widespread speculation suggests it’ll run the full Windows 10 desktop experience, thanks to a collaboration with Qualcomm to deliver speedy Snapdragon chips. Unfortunately, we don’t know much beyond that. Some industry insiders suggest there will be three models, differentiated by storage capacity and amount of RAM — we’ll only know when it is released, which should be in the first half of next year.

A version of this story first appeared on Stuff Singapore (http://www.stuff.tv/sg/features/most-anticipated-gadgets-2017).