Apple's 2016 report card: A for operations, B- for innovation

LOS ANGELES — Apple continued its winning ways in 2016, with one product that sold more units than any other competitor, the top-selling iPhone.

But the year was controversial, as the company angered longtime customers by removing popular features from products and falling further behind Amazon, Google and Facebook in innovation.

KTLA-TV tech reporter Rich DeMuro joined USA TODAY for a Facebook Live video chat, as we compared notes on Apple's year. Click the link below to view our nearly 30-minute conversation.

"Apple didn't blow us away with anything brand new, but they delivered on what they do best," said DeMuro.

Or in other words, the new iPhone and iPads were the same old product with a new skin and a few new features. That said, I find the latest iPhone, the 7 Plus, to be Apple's best ever, with water resistance and a terrific camera with two lenses. Two big issues didn't get fixed, though: a longer-lasting battery and screens that won't crack.

Grade: After a string of new products that were more updates than anything new, I give Apple a B- in innovation in 2016, with an A for running the company efficiently. DeMuro offers a C+ for innovation and A+ for operations. That leaves my grade at B and his at B+.

The company generated over $200 billion in revenue from the fourth quarter of 2015 through the first three quarters of 2016.

But it wasn't an easy year for the company.

First Apple gave us a new iPhone without a headphone jack, saying it took courage to ditch the standard port we’ve grown accustomed to all these years.

Then it brought us new Macintosh laptops a few months later with a headphone jack, but minus all the accessory slots we pros live on such as an SD memory card slot to import photos, and videos and USB slots to plug in external hard drives and charge the iPhone.

I'm really missing the SD slot on the new MacBook Pro

Apple introduced smaller versions of the iPhone and iPad, put a smartphone like TouchBar on new MacBook Pros and gave us some odd-looking wireless headphones, called AirPods, that were recently released after a long production delay.

Review: After shaky start, Apple's wireless Bluetooth AirPods work great

The company tried to convince us that after five years, the personal digital assistant Siri was finally ready for prime time because now developers could add Siri to their apps. DeMuro and I agree that Siri still isn’t cutting it for us, even if you can use it on Uber.

Apple did do a good job upgrading the iMessages program in September, bringing in apps and stickers to greatly enhance our texts with more visuals.

Did you install Apple's new upgrade? Check out stickers

The new Apple Watch is water resistant and has GPS, but it still has a clunky interface with useless apps. That said, kudos to Apple for not giving up on it and still trying.

With the Mac Pro laptop update, Apple turned its backs on pros and raised prices to the point where many started looking seriously to Windows for the first time in years.

Then again, the computer division is tiny compared to the cash cow of the iPhone. Despite Apple losing the cool mantle to competitors, it still outsells everyone. Amazon had a killer year with the Echo-connected speaker that sold out for the holidays. Analysts project Amazon to have sold around 10 million Echos.

Apple will sell way more than 200 million iPhones this year, an amazing feat. But watching the company isn't as much fun as it used to be, with all the product stumbles of 2016. Still, don't hold a benefit for Apple CEO Tim Cook & Co. — they're crying all the way to the bank.

What’s your grade for Apple? Let’s chat about it on Twitter, where I’m jeffersongraham. You can reach Rich on Twitter, @richdemuro.

Don't forget to subscribe to the daily #TalkingTech podcast on iTunes and Stitcher, and leave reviews, comments and suggestions.