Apple's R&D Spending Climbs 32 Percent In 12 Months
October 30, 2013
Apple’s research and development (R&D) expenses have climbed to another new high in the last year. In fiscal 2013, Cupertino spent a record $4.5 billion on R&D. This was an increase of 32 percent from the previous year, according to AppleInsider.
In a recent 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple notes that R&D spending has climbed significantly over the past few years. In 2011, spending was $2.5 billion. A year later, it climbed 39 percent to $3.4 billion.
Apple explains:
The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company's core business strategy As such, the Company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive.AppleInsider notes that despite the increase, Apple’s R&D spending has remained fairly consistent with respect to the company’s net sales. “Numbers that have also grown significantly.” On Monday, Apple announced a fourth quarter profit of $7.5 billion. From July through September, the company sold 33.8 million iPhones, a record for the quarter. Last year, Apple sold 26.9 million handsets during the same time period. The company sold 14.1 million iPads, up slightly from the 14 million sold in the same quarter last year.