MacRumors

Apple is planning a significant investment in LG Innotek to secure supply of 3D sensing modules for next-generation iPhone and iPad models expected to launch this year, according to Korean website The Investor.

The 3D sensing modules assembled by LG Innotek, including the flood illuminator and dot projector, are key components of the iPhone X's new TrueDepth camera system, enabling features such as Face ID and Animoji.

The investment would make sense given Apple plans to launch a refreshed iPhone X, a larger iPhone X Plus, and a mid-range iPhone each with Face ID later this year, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple will also release at least one iPad Pro model with Face ID this year, according to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg News.

The investment could help Apple avoid the temporary supply chain issues it experienced with 3D sensing modules late last year, ensuring availability of the new iPhone X, iPhone X Plus, and iPad Pro is more plentiful.

Apple today has added refurbished 10.5-inch iPad Pro models to its online store for the first time in the United States and Canada.

There are currently around 20 configurations available to choose from, including Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular variants, with prices reduced by around 15 percent compared to what Apple charges for brand new models. As usual, supply is limited, so be quick to place an order if you are interested.

In the United States, refurbished prices start at $549 for Wi-Fi models with 64GB of storage, a discount of $100. Wi-Fi models with 256GB and 512GB of storage are $649 and $849, down from $799 and $999, respectively.

Apple says its refurbished products are thoroughly inspected, tested, cleaned, and repackaged with a new white box and all manuals and accessories. Apple also installs a new battery and replaces the outer shell, making it nearly impossible to distinguish between a refurbished and brand new iPad Pro.

All refurbished iPad Pro models come with Apple's standard one-year warranty effective on the date the tablet is delivered. The warranty can be extended to up to two years from the original purchase date with AppleCare+ for iPad, at a cost of $99 for all 10.5-inch iPad Pro models in the United States.

Apple introduced the 10.5-inch iPad Pro in June 2017. The device is only slightly larger than the 9.7-inch iPad Pro it replaced, but the size and weight difference is hardly noticeable, given Apple was able to make the display around 20 percent larger by significantly reducing the size of the tablet's bezels.

It's worth noting that Best Buy and other Apple resellers frequently discount brand new 10.5-inch iPad Pro models by around 15 percent, including Micro Center right now. Keep an eye on our Apple Deals roundup for other sales.

Apple's second-generation iPhone SE will come with a rear glass panel that could enable it to support Qi-compatible wireless charging accessories, according to Indian tech website Tekz24.

Speculation about a new version of Apple's small form factor smartphone originally began in August last year, when Focus Taiwan first claimed a new iPhone SE would ship in the first quarter of 2018.

That report was accompanied by claims from Tekz24 that the "iPhone SE 2" will be powered by Apple's A10 Fusion chip, with 2GB of RAM, 32GB and 128GB storage capacities, a 12-megapixel rear camera, a five-megapixel front camera, and a slightly larger 1,700 mAh battery.

Three months later, China's Economic Daily News fueled speculation with a report that Apple will release a second-generation iPhone SE in the first half of 2018, to be assembled exclusively by Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron at its factory in Bengaluru, India, where some assembly of the current iPhone SE occurs. Lastly, earlier this month Taiwanese market research firm TrendForce predicted that Apple is planning to launch a second-generation iPhone SE in 2018 to target the mid-range smartphone market.

Tekz24 – the source of today's glass back rumor – lacks an established track record of reporting on Apple rumors, so the above tech specs and today's claim remain completely unverified.

However, given that Apple recently introduced support for wireless charging with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X series of devices, the possibility that it could bring its smaller four-inch smartphone model into the fold certainly isn't completely outlandish, especially with the company's AirPower wireless charging mat already confirmed for release sometime this year.

Apple hasn't properly refreshed the iPhone SE since it launched back in March 2016, but it did double the available storage capacities to 64GB and 128GB in March 2017. Suggestions that Apple could tweak the design – perhaps giving it thinner bezels to make way for a larger screen – remain entirely in the unverified speculation department at this point.

As for the rest of Apple's smartphone line-up in 2018, rumors suggest Apple will launch a new 5.8-inch iPhone X alongside a second OLED iPhone, this one measuring in at 6.5 inches, which means it can be thought of as an "iPhone X Plus".

Alongside these two OLED iPhones, Apple is also said to be planning to introduce a 6.1-inch iPhone with an LCD display, positioned as a more affordable device targeting the low-end and mid-range markets, with a starting price of $649 to $749 in the United States.

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, all three of these iPhones will feature edge-to-edge displays, Face ID, and TrueDepth camera systems, which would likely signal the final nail in the coffin for both the Home button and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor in new iPhone models.

French consumer fraud group DGCCRF, part of the country's economy ministry, last week launched a preliminary investigation into Apple over "alleged deception" and "planned obsolescence" of Apple products, reports Reuters.

The investigation follows Apple's admission that it slows down some older iPhones with degraded batteries during times of peak power usage in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

Apple introduced the power management feature in iOS 10.2.1 following complaints of unexpected shutdowns in the iPhone 6s, but Apple did not make it clear to consumers that it was due to battery deterioration nor did Apple inform customers that it could cause occasional performance slowdowns.

Apple has since apologized for its lack of communication and introduced a new policy that allows iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and SE owners to receive a one-time no-questions-asked $29 battery replacement for their devices, as a device with a depleted battery that is affected by throttling will return to normal performance with a battery replacement.

According to Apple, the power management features that prevent unexpected shutdowns by occasionally throttling older iPhones with batteries in bad condition are designed to preserve the life of the iPhone for as long as possible and were not implemented to force upgrades. From Apple:

First and foremost, we have never -- and would never -- do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.

Despite Apple's efforts to correct the issue, in addition to the French inquiry, the company is now facing more than two dozen lawsuits accusing it of intentionally slowing down older iPhones and failing to disclose the changes that it introduced in iOS 10.2.1. One of those lawsuits also stems from France, filed by French consumer group "HOP," which translates to "Stop Planned Obsolescence."

The French watchdog's investigation could take months to complete, and based on the findings, the issue could be escalated to a judge for a more in-depth inquiry or dropped all together.

If Apple is found guilty of planned obsolescence in France, the punishment could be a fine of up to five percent of its annual sales.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show is kicking off this week, with hundreds of companies on hand to show off their latest products. The show will officially start on Tuesday, January 9, but there's always a media preview event ahead of time, CES Unveiled.

MacRumors videographer Dan checked out CES Unveiled last night and gave us a quick overview of some of the things we can expect to see at the show this year.

Elgato was showing off its updated Eve Room and new Eve Button, with the former designed to measure air quality and temperature in a room and the latter designed to allow you to activate HomeKit scenes san smartphone.

iDevices latest smart light switch, the Instinct, was one of the more interesting products at CES Unveiled. The Instinct has built-in Amazon Alexa support rather than simply Alexa integration, so you can ask your light switch for the latest news, weather updates, and more, similar to other Alexa devices. In addition to Alexa support, there's also support for HomeKit for simple controls, but it's only Alexa that offers full personal assistant functionality in the light switch.

Moodo, originally an Indiegogo project, was at CES Unveiled to show off its Moodo smart scent diffuser, which is designed to allow you to customize and curate specific scents with built-in aroma modules and app-based mixing controls. Priced at $189, the Moodo box comes with four scents that you can mix up at will using your iPhone.

LG was showing off its new 34-inch 5K ultrawide monitor, which looked amazing, and at this year's show, LG is also demoing a new 65-inch super thin 4K OLED display prototype, which is flexible and can be rolled up.

There were tons of drones and action cameras on the CES Unveiled floor, including a 360 degree action cam from Rylo. Rylo's camera is unique because it allows you to capture 360 degree video and then edit it into a video with traditional dimensions. You can use footage captured from any angle, which makes for some pretty interesting videos.

Belkin was at CES Unveiled demonstrating its new line of wireless charging docks that are all designed to work with the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus, and OWC was on hand showing off its newest products, like the ultrafast Thunderblade V4 SSD.

Make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors this week for all of our ongoing CES coverage, because there's a lot more to come. We'll be highlighting all of the new products and accessories relevant to Apple users. To check out what we've shared so far, take a look at our CES 2018 hub.

Apple today released a macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 supplemental update, which comes a little more than a month after the initial release of macOS High Sierra 10.13.2.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 is a free update for all customers who have a compatible machine. The update can be downloaded using the Software Update function in the Mac App Store.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 addresses the "Spectre" vulnerability that was publicized last week. Spectre, along with its sister vulnerability "Meltdown" are serious hardware-based exploits that take advantage of the speculative execution mechanism of a CPU, allowing hackers to gain access to sensitive information.

While Meltdown was addressed in the initial macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 update, Apple said it would introduce a mitigation for Spectre in macOS and iOS early this week. There is no hardware fix for Spectre, so Apple is addressing the vulnerability using Safari-based software workarounds.

There's also a Safari 11.0.2 update available for macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 that is designed to mitigate the effects of the Spectre vulnerability. Customers running macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan should download the new version of Safari to make sure their machines are protected.

Apple today released iOS 11.2.2, the ninth official update to the iOS 11 operating system. iOS 11.2.2 comes almost one month after the release of iOS 11.2.1, another minor update, and a month after iOS 11.2, which brought brought Apple Pay Cash, faster 7.5W wireless charging, and a long list of bug fixes.

The iOS 11.2.2 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings --> General --> Software Update.

The iOS 11.2.2 includes further fixes for the "Meltdown" and "Spectre" vulnerabilities that came to light last week. Meltdown and Spectre are serious hardware-based vulnerabilities that take advantage of the speculative execution mechanism of a CPU, allowing hackers to gain access to sensitive information.

While Meltdown was addressed in the iOS 11.2 update, Apple said it would introduce a mitigation for Spectre early this week. There is no hardware fix for Spectre, so Apple is addressing the vulnerability using Safari-based software workarounds. From Apple's security support document:

Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation
Description: iOS 11.2.2 includes security improvements to Safari and WebKit to mitigate the effects of Spectre (CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715).

For more on iOS 11 and its updates, make sure to check out our iOS 11 roundup.