New Year's Day 2017 is here and Apple's iPhone 8 is set to roll out later in the year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the famous smartphone brand launched almost a decade ago. The United States' most valuable tech company rolled out many conspicuous products in 2016 that made headline news including the iPhone 7/7 Plus, MacBook Pro 15-inch, iMac with 5K resolution, and AirPod wireless headphones.
2016 was not a great year for Apple. Tim Cook's company, however, still released several high-quality products during the past 365 days that are worth noting.
iPhone 7 Plus
The large display smartphone is more of an upgrade of the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus than a fresh start for the Apple brand. It is a still a premium phone on the market. That is also true for people upgrading from one of Apple's big screen smartphones from the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s series.
One major change to the iPhone 7 Plus was the missing headphone jack. This upset many Apple fans. The smart phone still features more power, better battery, and two camera sensors on the back of the gadget that allow owners to use the handset's portrait mode, according to Tech Times.
MacBook Pro 15-inch
The new MacBook Pro is thinner and lighter than the upgraded Mac notebooks announced in 2012. It also features a brighter 15-inch Retina display, huge trackpad, and better audio.
The new notebook got some big surprises. They included a touchscreen at the top of the keyboard, and four USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports.
iMac With 5K Resolution
During the past calendar year Apple also unveiled a new iMac, which was originally rolled out almost two decades ago in 1998. Cook announced the new all-in-one desktop computer at Apple's September event this year.
The 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina display has many upgrades. They include a Skylake chipset, better GPU, big upgarde in storage bandwidth, and 64 gigabytes of RAM as a third-party upgrade, according to Macworld.
AirPods
These Apple accessories are a good choice for people who want freedom of movement when listening to music on their iPhones. Smartphone owners just have to open up the lid of the AirPods case when it is placed close to the smartphone. The earbuds then quickly connect to the mobile device.
The AirPods are better than the California-based company's EarPods. They do not, however, provide the best sound quality possible when using an iPhone to enjoy Apple Music, Spotify, or Tidal tunes.
The year 2016 did not result in any game-changing Apple products. They still provide a solid base that the world's most valuable company can build on in 2017 and beyond.
Here are some top 2016 smartphones: