Apple cranks up its R&D budget

Five charts to start the day

Last week, Apple officially announced the launch of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. Lo and behold it was yet another incremental update from last year's handset. Very little has changed since the iPhone 12. Naturally if you went on Twitter, you will have seen quite a few rather amusing memes to express Apple’s self-confessed innovation. Here are a few:

Well, despite the disappointment of many iPhone fans with this latest release, in reality Apple has cranked up its R&D spending quite considerably. You can see this in the chart below from Chartr.

We are now back at levels not witnessed since early 2000. Despite the frustrations of many consumers, Apple is actually investing a lot of money on research and development.

The next iPhone could actually be quite different from the current design we have, therefore. Perhaps it's worth waiting before then.

Coming up:

• AI's role in expanding industry margins over the next five years

• Value versus growth stocks is influenced by interest rates

• Taylor Swift’s carbon footprint

• China’s startup ecosystem has almost completely collapsed

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