According to this chart, Apple spent $6B in 2014 and is projected to spend just over $10B in 2016.<p>For comparison, in 2014 Volkswagen spent $13.5B, Samsung spent $13.4B, and Microsoft spent $10.4B.  [1]<p>Apple has, historically, not been a big spender when it comes to research, tending to favor short-term, tightly focused research over long-term, curiosity driven research.  Over the last few years their research budget has ballooned, but only in 2017 (projected) are they going to reach levels that the above companies were spending at in 2014.  Has Apple&#x27;s research focus changed?<p>Perhaps we&#x27;re not seeing some monumental project in the works, although an autonomous car would be pretty big.  Perhaps what we&#x27;re seeing is Apple deciding to loosen the purse strings and, instead of stashing away obscene piles of money, they&#x27;ve loosened their research focus and now have a lot of people doing whatever the hell they want, much like MS, just because something useful might someday emerge.<p>Let&#x27;s face it, Apple has so much money they could probably launch their own space program if they really wanted to.<p>[1]<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;fortune.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;11&#x2F;17&#x2F;top-10-research-development&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;fortune.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;11&#x2F;17&#x2F;top-10-research-development&#x2F;</a>