Apple admits 'all Mac devices', iPhones and iPads affected by Meltdown and Spectre

Apple has admitted in a blog post that all iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are affected by Meltdown and Spectre; the two major flaws recently found in computer microchips.

Both flaws, that could potentially allow hackers to steal data, emerged earlier this week and technology companies have been scrambling to address the issue ever since.

The Meltdown and Spectre flaws are in all modern microchips made by Intel and ARM. Together the firms supply almost the entire global computer market.

Apple said it had released some patches to fix the issue but there was "no evidence" that any vulnerability had been exploited.

"All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time. These issues apply to all modern processors and affect nearly all computing devices and operating systems," it said in blog post on the issue.

Patches against Spectre, via an update to web browser , will be released "in the coming days". However, Meltdown does not affect the Apple Watch.

Microsoft and Google have also issued statements telling users which products are affected by the bugs.

Microsoft has released fixes for many of its services, while Google said its Android phones, which make up more than 80% of the global market, were protected if users had the latest security updates.