Apple Research and Development Expenses
Research and Development Expenses of Apple 2000 -2018
The following table shows the net income of Apple Inc from 2000 to 2018. The sums are in millions.
| Year | R&D Expenses ($mn) |
| 2018 | $14,236 |
| 2017 | $11,581 |
| 2016 | $10,045 |
| 2015 | $8,067 |
| 2014 | $6,041 |
| 2013 | $4,475 |
| 2012 | $3,381 |
| 2011 | $2,429 |
| 2010 | $1,782 |
| 2009 | $1,333 |
| 2008 | $1,109 |
| 2007 | $782 |
| 2006 | $712 |
| 2005 | $535 |
| 2004 | $489 |
| 2003 | $471 |
| 2002 | $446 |
| 2001 | $430 |
| 2000 | $380 |
Apple's R&D expenses rose to $14.2 Billion in 2018 from 11.6 Billion dollars in 2017.
Like every major technology brand Apple too invests a lot in Research and development. In 2017, its R&D expenses rose past 11 billion Dollars. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, Apple spent 3.4 Billion dollars on R&D which was around 530 million dollars higher than the same period last year. The competition is very high in the technology industry due to which the brand has to continually invest in the development of new products or in the improvement of the existing products to stay competitive. In its history, Apple has brought several innovative products to the market and in terms of competition it has the reputation of a highly aggressive company. The growth in R& D expenses during the last three years was mainly driven by the increase in headcount related expenses and material costs for supporting RD activities. Innovation is like a core business strategy at Apple and therefore the brand continuously invests in Research & Development activities.
Sources:
Apple Annual Reports (form 10K)