“Apple’s research and development spending has increased from $1 billion in 2009 to a projected $13 billion this year, not including stock-based compensation, according to a Thursday note from Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan,” Kif Leswing reports for CNBC. “”
“‘The patents around wearables suggest that Apple could be targeting AirPods with biometric sensors, Apple Watch with UV monitoring, gesture recognition for AR/VR applications, machine learning projects to enable autonomous driving and integration of various existing devices with a car,’ according to the note,” Leswing reports. “The analysts say that investors are focusing on the ‘apparent lack of ongoing innovation at Apple,’ but that they believe that Apple is appropriately investing in new product categories. ‘When the iPhone (once in a generation product) becomes the basis of comparison, everything else, however successful, looks incremental,’ the analysts write.”
“Apple’s massive scale can also mask how large some of its smaller product lines are,” Leswing reports. “‘The wearables business in just 4 years is the size of a fortune 200 company with [estimated] $15 billion in sales (similar to Netflix, Paypal etc.) but the sheer size of the iPhone of $155 billion in 2018 (similar to General Motors) dwarfs the rapid growth of the relatively smaller businesses,’ Mohan writes.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Soon, we should start to see some of the fruits of Apple’s labor. Some things wicked this way come!
SEE ALSO:
What’s Apple, now one of the biggest R&D investors, getting for its money? – March 9, 2019
Apple’s years of work on AR and VR will pay off in the 2020 smartglasses – March 8, 2019
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple AR glasses coming in 2020; will require iPhone to do the heavy lifting – March 8, 2019
Tim Cook says Apple is ‘planting seeds’ and ‘rolling the dice’ on future products that will ‘blow you away’ – March 1, 2019
Apple patent reveals features of augmented reality smartglasses – February 26, 2019
Apple’s next big thing could replace both the iPhone and Apple Watch – February 21, 2019
Augmented Reality will spark the next big tech platform – February 15, 2019
Apple taps iPhone exec Casanova to be first head of marketing for augmented reality – February 12, 2019
Apple working on new iPhones with powerful 3-D camera and laser scanner in augmented reality push – January 30, 2019
Apple patent reveals ongoing work on micro-LED displays for holographic imagery – November 9, 2018
What’s happening with Apple’s secret augmented reality glasses project? – November 8, 2018
Apple’s Akonia acquisition points towards ‘Apple glasses’ – August 30, 2018
Apple buys Akonia Holographics, a startup focused on lenses for AR glasses – August 30, 2018
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple Glasses coming in 2020 – August 15, 2018
Gene Munster: Apple will release Apple Glasses late in 2021 – May 17, 2018
Apple patent application reveals work on eye-tracking technology for VR and AR headsets – April 27, 2018
Apple prepping Micro-LED displays for Apple Watch and Smartglasses for 2019, sources say – April 3, 2018
Apple CEO Cook on the future of fashion, shopping, and AR smartglasses – October 11, 2017
Apple’s AR smartglasses – understanding the issues – August 29, 2017
Bernstein: Apple’s ‘smartglasses’ opportunity ‘could be enormous’ – August 25, 2017
Apple working on several prototypes of AR glasses – August 4, 2017
Apple’s next big move: Augmented reality – August 3, 2017
Apple’s rumored new glasses will be an even bigger deal than the iPhone – July 28, 2017
Apple smart glasses are inevitable – July 28, 2017
It does seem that Apple really is investing more in vertical technologies rather than creating all new categories. This creates upgrade cycles for existing product lines while it toils away trying to find the next big thing, which is very hard to do.
So I wait while I’m using my fifth Mac laptop, my third iPad, my fourth Airport, my third Apple TV and my 7th iPhone.
Each generation being much more functional and integrated than the last.
I’m the biggest Apple evangelist out there…a loyal customer since my first Apple II computer in 1978. But I have to say that I’m more than a bit weary of Apple continuing to try to hold up their reputation based on what they’re GOING TO DO in the future.
Sorry to break it to you but Apple is looking at the future which really is only looking back at the past.
Welcome to the ‘newest’ information age.
Well said … this “soon come” is getting way too old.
Apple is getting realistic by realizing that eventually the mobile phone market for high end iPhones can not be sustained by people upgrading every two years.
Automobiles were that way in the 1950s when a car started to break down after 10,000 miles.
Apple has to find and develop what may look like niche market items now (think Apple Watch in Gen 1) in order to create new items for new uses, but they can’t leave the “old” items like Mac Pros behind the times.
They have the dollars to get the older products up to speed.
No wonder its taking so long to design the new MacPro, they’re spending 13B to do it!
I believe the MacPro is a victim of ‘shareholder capitalism’ whereby a company goes from producing products that people want to producing products that satisfy only the profit/loss equation.
Apple R&D sucks hind tit.
What kind of backwoods company takes years to create a high-end Intel-based computer?
Well they need the time to maximize the amount of money to be made from many modular parts instead of one and cheaper-to-make convenient tower location. And somehow funnel all the more limited optional options through their Apple Tax Dept. for maximum bottom line.
I can see that Apple devoted an extraordinary amt. of R&D into reproducing the correct color blending for the rainbow portico.
Something is SERIOUSLY wrong inside Apple if that much more spending (then 2009) is producing the nothing that we’ve been seeing lately. Apple seems to be floundering around looking for businesses to emulate. A Car Maker? A Bank? Netflix? They have forgotten what they do for a living.
“They have forgotten what they do for a living.””
Really? Seems that the profits and dividends are doing OK. Product sales aren’t that bad and each new year delivers enhancements/upgrades to most product lines.
Name another tech company that is doing a better job for the shareholders AND customers.
Microsoft. IIRC, Cisco too.
Pipeline Tim
I wouldn’t doubt that MDN Apple is too busy throwing rainbow parades
Maybe Apple will come up with better fascist anti-free speech algorithms then they already have, and sell to Google and Facebook. That’s right, the fascists will collude and give each other the better anti-free speech algorithm in order any opinion other then their warped leftist fascist thought process. Why, because they a scared to hear anyone with another opinion other then theirs. And or course any other opinion other then their delusional leftist control is racist, homophobic,,, bla bla bla weaponized BS blather. We need to keep the opinions and thought of ANYTHING other then leftism, quenched. Otherwise the cult my beak their IQ of 80 thought process. Guess who is scared of their thought process….leftist who can’t have any other opinion other then theirs in the open to discuss. And I was a classic liberal at one point. Look how far the DNC has moved to the left that I am now right leaning. Pathetic. Fudge big Tech, they are part of the problem.
It’s hard to guess with great certainty where those R&D funds are going. My guesses are:
Heavy investments into the next 3 or 4 Arm processors for a multiple processor announcement when the Macs move from Intel.
Heavy investments on running macOS on the A14, A15 and A16 processors.
Heavy investments on an Apple modem chip.
Research on potential features of an ARM based Mac.
Special Area R&D that shows significant growth. Health is right at the top of the list. Health can be designed for consumers or patients (or both) or it can be designed for the professional market. The EEG in the Apple Watch is a great start, as is the Fall Response. Start adding the obvious, like blood glucose monitoring and sales are going to take a huge increase. PulseOx is another killer feature, especially for folks like asthmatics. Another huge jump in potential customers. Potential increases like these are stronger than a casual look would indicate and easily justifies significant R&D funds. It also helps that the FDA seems to really like Apple and the efforts the company makes in medical research.
An interesting way to view Apple’s approach to medical care is look at a drug company that spends $500 million to a full billion on developing and getting a new drug to market. Apple can easily drop that Billion on a new major health care feature, like PulseOx or Blood Sugars, into the Watch/iOS/macOS.