Apple's R&D Spending Has Skyrocketed [Chart]

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Posted October 30, 2013 at 8:26pm by Shalom Levytam

Apple's spending on research and development has skyrocketed over the past few years, according to information gleaned from the company's annual Form 10-K filing with the SEC.

The Verge reports that Apple spent a total of $4.475 billion in its 2013 financial year, an increase of 32% from the previous year, and a massive 87% increase from 2011's $2.4 billion.

"Of course, due to rising profits, the ballooning R&D costs actually represent a very similar percentage of the company's income being invested over the past two or three years. Back in the days of iPhone development, however, Apple was proportionally investing double what it is now."

In comparison, Microsoft spent $10.4 billion last year and Samsung announced that it plans to spend $3.5 billion just on R&D buildings.

Check out the chart below to see Apple's increased spending since 2006.

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Apple's R&D Spending Has Skyrocketed [Chart]

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Great - October 31, 2013 at 1:09am

Of course Samsung spends less on R&D…their strategy is to copy Apple's products and features. Not much innovation required.

haha - October 30, 2013 at 11:40pm

What specifically is Apple's R&D budget going towards?

tommyy - October 31, 2013 at 12:54am

Manufacturing robots especially mac pro.

Great - October 31, 2013 at 1:14am

Innovation takes time. Apple makes innovative products that have synergies with all their other products and services. Lots of people buy their products not because of novelty but because the products work in symphony with the rest on a way that other competing products don't.

rizu - October 31, 2013 at 6:26am

Even making a smaller & thinner device needs proper R&D. You cannot easily scale down everything without research. Processor, battery, camera components are all integrated in a smaller device with double performance & battery life. Making the device bigger isn't challenging at all compared to Samsung.