In this week’s top stories: Tim Cook makes a big announcement regarding iPhone throttling, possible iPhone X design improvements, a beautiful watchOS 5 concept, and much more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories…

Spigen TEKA RA200 Airpods Earhooks Cover

This week, Tim Cook made the big announcement that iPhone users will be able to turn off iPhone battery performance throttling in a future update. Cook’s comments came during an ABC interview, where he also talked up the company’s latest tax news.

Cook says the update will be available to developers next month, indicating a possible public release in March.

As for those tax announcements, Apple revealed this week that it will invest $350 billion into the United States economy over the next five years. Furthermore, the company is also planning a new physical presence in the United States, which will serve as a technical support center.

As its release looms, Apple’s HomePod smart speaker received FCC approval this week, while a separate report claimed that supplier Inventec has shipped the first 1 million units. We’re still waiting for an official release date from Apple, however.

Lastly, a new link surfaced that will crash Messages on your iOS and macOS devices. The link looks harmless, but can cause some frustrating problems if you’re on the receiving end. Thankfully, Apple says an update is coming next week to fix it.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below:

iPhone | 

Apple Watch | HomePod | Mac |

iOS | macOS | tvOS | watchOS

AAPL Company |

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This week’s top video |

Happy Hour Podcast #156 |

This week Benjamin and Zac discuss Apple’s efforts to build a new TV service, the fate of the iPhone X notch and recent iPhone sales, CarPlay news out of the International Auto Show in Detroit, a beautiful watchOS 5 mockup, and HomePod predictions.

9to5Mac Daily |

Welcome to 9to5Mac Daily, a new podcast bringing you the latest in Apple news and top 9to5Mac stories every Monday through Friday. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

• 006: Accidental missile alert, MacBook Air turns 10, CarPlay hits more trucks | 9to5Mac Daily
• 007: FileMaker meets The Office, iPhone 12 rumors, and watchOS 5 | 9to5Mac Daily
• 008: Apple’s first comedy, HomePods shipping, BMW’s CarPlay mistake | 9to5Mac Daily
• 009: Trump’s Apple love, App Store rejections, and throttle toggles | 9to5Mac Daily
• 010: HomePod FCC approval, Apple hiring data scientists, iOS 11 adoption | 9to5Mac Daily

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