Apple’s spending on research and development exceeded $6 billion in fiscal 2014, the company’s latest 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveals (via AppleInsider).
As previous reports had already suggested, Apple’s research and development spending went up this year as the company prepares to launch new products such as the Apple Watch. In numbers, that means Apple spent $1.68 billion in the September quarter alone, up slightly compared to the $1.6 billion spent in the June quarter.
Looking back to fiscal 2014, Apple spent a total of $6.04 billion, up 35% compared to fiscal 2013. R&D accounted for roughly $3% of the company’s total net sales, up 1% compared to the 2% of total net sales reported for 2012. That year, Apple’s R&D spending was “only” $3.38 billion.
“The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competition 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,” the filing reads. “As such, the Company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive.”
While the imminent arrival of the Apple Watch has been confirmed, the company is said to be busy working on other projects as well, such as a bigger-screen iPad Pro, which is expected to hit the market sometime next year.
