Apple is planning to boost its investments on manufacturing equipment, product testing and retail stores by 57% during the fiscal 2014, as part of its efforts to increase the production of iPhones, iPads and new products.
The overall spending will bring the iPhone maker’s capital expenditures $11bn by September 2014, from $7bn the previous fiscal.
Out of the overall spending, about $550m will go towards retail operations, which include launch of 30 new stores globally and refurbishing 20 others.
In its Form 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Apple revealed that its R&D expenses rose 32% during the year, with its spending reaching $4.5bn, which is almost the amount for which whole BlackBerry is likely to be sold.
The iPhone maker accounts the rise in spending to increase in personnel, in addition to more expenditure to be made to maintain expanded activities.
During fourth quarter ending 28 September, Apple generated a profit of $7.5bn, compared to $8.2bn reported last year, recording third consecutive quarterly decline in earnings.
Revenue for the quarter also rose to $37.5bn, compared to $36bn reported during the corresponding quarter last year.
Apple employs about 80,300 full-time employees, with almost 43,000 being appointed in retail.
