The tech world has been fruitful and eventful throughout the year, with some  innovators making history while some tech giants meeting their Waterloo. 

Smartphone wars raged dangerously this year for Samsung. The tech mammoth was forced to recall and stop production of its Galaxy Note 7 after reports its batteries were exploding, leaving the door open for Apple and its iPhone 7. But the flagship product got slammed on social media for what it didn’t have: a headphone jack.

Apple attempted to lay claim to a new category —wireless AirPods, which also ended up, for unknown reasons, being delayed. 

While some tech companies moved cautiously, this was the year that Chinese companies moved aggressively into the US market.

At a glitzy event in San Francisco, LeEco, known for being a streaming content provider in China, unveiled its LePro smartphone, new HD TV’s, Virtual Reality Goggles and a laser sensor smart bike. Billionaire founder Jia Yueting topped it all off by unveiling the LeSee electric car.

LeEco was just one of the numerous companies that invested heavily in Virtual Reality in 2016. Startups and investors also saw the domain as an open frontier.

While Microsoft revealed stunning details of its futuristic Hololens holographic headset project, companies like Oculus, HTC and Sony hit the market with high-end VR goggles.

Facebook owns one of those VR headset makers, Oculus, and the early sales have been disappointing. But the social media king still had a very “likeable” year of growth. One feature that took off was its Facebook live feature, which allows any user to tap a button and stream whatever activity they’re doing in real-time.

Despite constant concerns over Artificial Intelligence becoming too intelligent, AI continued to be a hot topic. AI is helping fuel everything from self-driving cars to even toys like Cozmo, which learns its surroundings, including who it is playing with.

As tech gets smarter and smarter, anxiety is building over what will happen to human jobs, especially when Amazon introduced a concept grocery store with no lines but also no cashiers or clerks.

And AT Zume pizza, robots are taking and making an increasing share of the pie.

A redistribution of job functions is how the tech world views it. While labor groups dispute that vision, it’s clear that in the not too distant future, both our workplace and our colleagues may look radically different.

(Watch the above video as CCTV America’s Mark Niu recaps the trends and products of the tech world in 2016.)