While 2016 saw plenty of shiny new tech on the shelves, it wasn’t much of a year for significant breakthroughs. Even the latest iPhone 7 drew groans of boredom. Will things get any better in 2017? Expect the big buzzwords of 2016 – the Internet of Things, voice search, blockchain, artificial intelligence, chatbots, virtual reality and augmented reality – to be less about theory and more about real world products embedding themselves in society.

However, with post-Brexit, post-Trump isolationism a possibility and threats to free markets, free movement and data privacy on the horizon, 2017 could see tech battle with the prospect of an un-connected world.

1. Rise of voice search

2. Hello chatbots

3. Global isolationism

4. Growth of VPNs

5. Blockchain to blossom

6. Rise of OLED tech

7. More investment in AI

8. An OS for the IoT

9. More cyber-attacks

10. AR, VR and MR will spread

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