The hottest Apple-related news for the week of Jan. 15-20

There’s a lot happening in the world of Apple news this week. Following are the hottest articles for the week of Jan. 15-20.

Apple has announced a new set of investments to build on its commitment to support the American economy and its workforce, concentrated in three areas where the tech giant has had the greatest impact on job creation: direct employment by Apple, spending and investment with Apple’s domestic suppliers and manufacturers, and fueling the app economy that the company created with iPhone and the App Store. 

Apple has landed a 10-episode comedy series executive produced by and starring Kristen Wiig, the Saturday Night Live grad and movie actress (GhostBusters, Downsizing), according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project, inspired by Curtis Sittenfeld’s upcoming short-story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It and produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine banner.

The iPhone 7 Plus gained 2.8% of all smartphone sales in China, according to Counterpoint Research. The tech giant was the only foreign brand to have a smartphone model in the top 10 best-selling handsets in China in 2017.

Apple plans to release a software update to iOS that will allow users to control whether or not their iPhones are automatically slowed down. The update will let users turn off the option at the risk that the phone might automatically restart due to an aging battery.

We may be able to get our hands on an Apple HomePod soon. According to the Taipei Times, Inventec Corp., one of the two assemblers for the smart speaker, has released an initial shipment of about one million.

Thomson Reuters, a mass media and information firm, has published its first “Top 100 Global Technology Leaders” list, which celebrates “the industry’s most operationally sound and financially successful organizations.” Apple places sixth on the list.

Ireland’s Public Accounts Committee will begin collecting €13 billion (about $14.5 billion) from Apple in March, with payments expected to continue through September.