Neil Cybart, after analyzing the trend of R&D spending of Apple's previous fiscal years, came to the conclusion that Apple's R&D spending in fiscal year 2018 may reach US$14 billion.
If Apple's R&D spending in fiscal year 2018 is as high as $14 billion as expected by Neil Cybart, then its FY18 R&D spending will be twice that of four years ago, which is even more than the sum of Apple's R&D spending from 1998 to 2011. many.
Neil Cybart pointed out that Apple’s R&D expenditures for fiscal year 2018 increased to US$14 billion because Apple’s management had ambitions in revenue and Apple needed to enter new areas, just as it had previously expanded from desktops and laptops to personal music players. , And then developed into smart phones and smart watches, Apple is not a company that clings to the iPhone's revenue-generating product and fears making a change. Apple's management is looking for new ideas so that it can enter new fields in the future.
The increase in Apple's R&D expenditures in FY18-18 also indicates that Apple is currently looking for new areas, such as autopilot, streaming video services, and augmented reality. Of course, there is another possibility that Apple’s R&D spending will increase, that is, hardware and software. With increasingly fierce competition, Apple needs more investment in R&D of hardware and software.