From smartphones to digital currencies, artificial intelligence to virtual and augmented reality, technology became more and more embedded in our lives in 2017.

Bitcoin made headlines on a regular basis, all major platform companies launched the newest versions of their products, and smartphone users held onto their devices even tighter.

Turkey, in addition to leading Europe in terms of call duration, also took the lead in mobile broadband data consumption, breaking multiple records in each quarter with the spread of the 4.5G network.

Even though the number of smartphones in the market decreased, phones priced over TL 5,000 ($1,325) came out in the last quarter of the year.

The passion for AI

Institutions, enterprises and technology buffs brought AI to the agenda. More and more companies started to use AI and deep learning in their products and applications.

Bitcoin in taxis

Bitcoin was this year's buzzword. A rapid appreciation in value helped its spread, with people looking to make easy money. The digital ledger technology that lay underneath the cryptocurrency, blockchain, was also hailed as a technology of the future by experts.Most talked trio of technologyThe most used technological word: Digital cryptocurrency bitcoin became the most commonly spoken word. The most talked-about smartphone: The hype around iPhone 8 was surpassed by iPhone X, the special 10th-anniversary edition of the device. The most used technology: It is possible to find traces of AI in every operating system, processing platform, and application. The voice assistant race in particular also boosted its spread.Top phones of 2017Samsung S8 was the year's first flagship device. It boasted an infinite screen, a trend also followed by the LG G6. In the meantime, Apple was trying to keep the market alive with the Red iPhone series. Huawei's P10 saw the company collaborate with Leica to take mobile phone camera to the next level. Then came Google's new Android update, 8.0 Oreo.

At the end of the summer, Note 8 hit the shelves and made consumers forget the disappointment from the year before. The slim, long and elegant screen enabled the ability to deliver great pictures with dual lenses.

Later, we were hosted at Apple's new campus, shaped like a flying saucer, for Apple's iPhone 8 and iPhone X launch.

Google, after working on phone designs and collaborations for years, struck a deal with HTC. It also made improvements to its AI assistant and released Pixel 2, which sports a 12.2-megapixel dual autofocus camera, and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.Speakers that understandAlmost all the major platform companies introduced their voice assistant programs in the market this year. While Amazon launched a new version of Echo, the latest Google Home also made a stir. Apple's HomePod also showed a determination not to lose the market to these two platforms.

Later, a number of home appliance makers also started integrating voice assistants with their products, utilizing Amazon's Alexa platform in particular.