Apple Is Getting More Bang for Its R&D Buck

Silicon Valley is aglow from so-called moonshots. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is building autonomous vehicles, life-extending drugs, and animal-look-alike robots. Facebook is developing Internet-beaming drones and virtual-reality headsets, while Microsoft has unveiled hologram glasses and is chasing breakthroughs in translation software. IBM’s AI software, Watson, will take on all comers in chess.

Compared with its resources, Apple has remained relatively quiet. It spent just 3.5 percent ($8.1 billion) of its $233 billion in revenue in fiscal 2015 on research and development, a lower percentage than every other large U.S. technology company, data compiled by Bloomberg show. By contrast, Facebook spent about 21 percent ($2.6 billion) on R&D, chipmaker Qualcomm 22 percent ($5.6 billion), and Alphabet 15 percent ($9.2 billion).