GoKawiilApple’s spending on research and development hit an all-time high in the company’s latest quarterly results, reflecting an industry-wide continued push into AI development. Here are the details.
Apple’s R&D spending hits $11.4 billion
As part of its fiscal Q2 2026 results, Apple reported $11.4 billion in R&D expenses, up 34% from Q2 2025, making it the highest quarterly figure in the company’s history.
Over the past several quarters, Apple’s R&D spending has steadily climbed from roughly the $6 billion range in 2022 to more than $11 billion today. Notably, the company sharply ramped up investment between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, when spending crossed the $10 billion mark for the first time.
This increase didn’t go unmentioned during today’s conference call following the release of the earnings report for Q2 2026.
When asked by Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan how Apple is thinking about investing across the AI stack, including what it builds internally versus what it relies on partners for, Apple CEO Tim Cook said:
“We are clearly investing more. You can see that in the OPEX (Operating expenses) numbers, and if you click down on those, a step deeper, and look at the R&D areas separate (from) SG&A (Selling, General and Administrative), you’ll find that R&D is even accelerating much higher than the company is. So we’re clearly investing, we’re investing in products and services.
Interestingly, this was the only time R&D expenses were explicitly mentioned during the call, and it was Cook who brought it up when asked specifically about AI.
Despite Apple’s increase in R&D spending, it still trails some of the largest companies in the tech industry, particularly those that have been investing more aggressively in AI.
For reference, in their latest earnings reports, Alphabet reported $17 billion in R&D spending, up from $13.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, Meta reported $17.6 billion, up from $12.1 billion, and Microsoft reported $8.9 billion, up from $8.1 billion.
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