Apple's research and development expenses reached an all-time high in the company's latest quarterly results, indicating that the overall efforts in artificial intelligence development in the industry are ongoing. Here are the details.

Apple's R&D Expenses Reached 11.4 Billion Dollars

In the second quarter results of fiscal 2026, Apple reported 11.4 billion dollars in R&D spending, marking a 34% increase compared to the second quarter of 2025, making it the highest quarterly figure in the company's history.

Over the last few quarters, Apple's R&D expenses have consistently risen from about 6 billion dollars in 2022 to over 11 billion dollars today. Notably, the company sharply increased its investments between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, with expenses surpassing 10 billion dollars for the first time.

This increase was not overlooked during the conference call following the release of the earnings report for the second quarter of 2026.

When Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan asked how Apple views its investments in the range of artificial intelligence, Apple CEO Tim Cook said:

“Clearly, we are investing more. You can see this in the OPEX (Operating Expenses) figures, and if you look deeper into them, you will see that the R&D areas are separate from SG&A (Selling, General and Administrative); R&D is gaining momentum much faster than the company's growth. So we are clearly investing, we are investing in products and services.

Interestingly, this was the only time R&D spending was explicitly mentioned during the call, and Cook brought it up specifically when asked about artificial intelligence.

Despite the increase in Apple's R&D spending, it still lags behind the largest companies in the technology industry, especially those investing more aggressively in artificial intelligence.

For reference, in the latest earnings reports, Alphabet reported 17 billion dollars in R&D spending, up from 13.5 billion dollars in the same quarter last year; Meta reported 17.6 billion dollars, an increase from 12.1 billion dollars; Microsoft reported 8.9 billion dollars, up from 8.1 billion dollars.

Today, Apple released its earnings report for the second fiscal quarter of 2026. The company reported revenues of 111.2 billion dollars, an annual increase of 17%.

Follow this link for the full breakdown of Apple's earnings results.

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