Apple Says All IOS Devices, Macs Affected By Meltdown And Spectre Chip Bugs

(RTTNews) - Apple Inc. (AAPL) Thursday confirmed that all devices running its mobile and personal-computer operating systems are affected by two massive vulnerabilities publicly disclosed Wednesday.

Apple said, "Security researchers have recently uncovered security issues known by two names, Meltdown and Spectre. These issues apply to all modern processors and affect nearly all computing devices and operating systems. All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time."

Apple said it has already released mitigations in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2 to help defend against Meltdown. Apple Watch is not affected by Meltdown.

Apple said that in the coming days, it plans to release mitigations in Safari to help defend against Spectre. Apple continues to develop and test further mitigations for these issues and will release them in upcoming updates of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

Intel Corp. (INTC) admitted Wednesday that its chips, which are used in Mac computers, are affected by Meltdown; Spectre affects all modern CPUs, including mobile chips from Softbank Group Corp.'s ARM Holdings. Other software companies, like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) are patching operating systems to ward off potential exploits that use the vulnerabilities as well.

Separately, Apple said Thursday that developers who make apps for the iPhone and iPad earned 30 percent more in 2017 than a year earlier, though it was still a slowdown from growth in 2016.

Developers who make apps for iOS earned $26.5 billion in 2017, Apple said in a statement Thursday, as users snapped up breakout hits including games like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Monument Valley 2. In 2016, developers earned $20 billion, a 40 percent increase from the year earlier.

Apple said its App Store had a record-breaking holiday season, culminating with $300 million in purchases made on New Year's Day 2018, up from $240 million in the prior year. Developers typically get 70 percent of that revenue, though the proportion increases to 85 percent after customers have completed a year's subscription to an app. Consumers spent more than $890 million over the seven days starting on Christmas Eve.