Skip to main content

R&D

See All Stories

Apple investing half a billion dollars in Chinese R&D centers as it announces two more

Site default logo image

Shanghai, where one of the new centers will be based

Apple has revealed that it will be investing more than $500M in research & development in China, as it today announced plans for two more R&D centers in the country.

The new offices will be in Shanghai and Suzhou, and follow those already announced for Beijing and Shenzhen. All four centers are expected to open later this year.

Apple says that there is a compelling reason for the investment …


Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Apple’s Japanese R&D center apparently delayed, now opening in March 2017

japan

Apple’s planned R&D center in Yokohama, Japan, appears to have fallen behind schedule. We got our first look at renders of the funky-looking building a little over a year ago, when the city’s mayor reported that construction would begin in 2015 and complete in 2016. But Japanese blog Macotakara now reports that a construction board outside the site says that it will instead complete in March 2017.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple building funky-looking R&D center in Yokohama, Japan, opening next year

Site default logo image

yokohama

This render provides our first look at Apple’s plan to build a sizeable new R&D center in Japan. We first heard that Apple would be building a facility “on par with Apple’s biggest R&D centers in Asia” from the Japanese Prime Minister late last year.

Japanese news site NHK reports that the center will be built on the outskirts of Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan after nearby Tokyo. The city’s mayor announced in a news conference that Apple had purchased the remains of a Panasonic factory on the site, and would be building a 25,000 square meter facility over four floors. The scale of the building would suggest that it could accommodate around several hundred employees, though Apple may of course be allowing for future expansion.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

A former Apple engineer is heading Ford’s new Palo Alto research center

Dragos Maciuca

We learned today that Ford is staffing up a research and development center in Silicon Valley located in Palo Alto, California, and heading the automaker’s new R&D facility is a former Apple engineer.

Dragos Maciuca, who served as a senior controls systems engineer with mobile technologies at Apple since early 2013, will head the research center’s 125 scientists and researchers, Ford told CNBC.

Prior to his tenure at Apple, Maciuca worked in various technology and research roles including for automakers Nissan and BMW.

As for what the former Apple engineer will focus on at Ford, Reuters has this:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s satellite office trend continues with announcement of R&D facility in Japan

Site default logo image

tokyo-007

Apple’s apparent trend of expanding its R&D efforts beyond Cupertino continues with the announcement of a “large research and development facility” in Japan.

While few details were given in local media reports (via Reuters), the source of the information appears rather reliable – a statement by Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Report: Apple’s rumored R&D center confirmed to open in Shanghai this summer

Following reports earlier this month that CEO Tim Cook’s most recent visit to China included talks about a new R&D center in China, new reports have claimed the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce confirmed the facility will open this summer. Today’s report came from Chinese news website yicai.com and was translated by BrightWire:

Apple has registered three firms in three buildings in Pudong, Shanghai, and one of them will be dedicated to procurement management and R&D, according to documents on the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce’s website.

(via MacRumors)

Site default logo image

Report: Apple plans to open R&D center in Beijing

According to a report from Chinese news portal Tencent Tech (via MacRumors), Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent trip to China included talks regarding a new R&D center in Beijing. The report also claimed Cook said Apple will “move a certain amount of its servers for App Store and iTunes to China in order to improve the downloading speed for users in China.”

The servers could point to Apple’s new Hong Kong data center, but the report also noted Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, or Inner Mongolia as potential locations for a new data center.

At a meeting with Beijing’s acting mayor Wang Anshun on January 8, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company plans to set up an R&D center in Beijing, an unnamed insider source told Tencent Tech today. Cook also noted that Apple will move a certain amount of its servers for App Store and iTunes to China in order to improve the downloading speed for users in China.

Site default logo image

Apple might be in talks to open Russian R&D facility?

Update: Russian speaking reader Ilya Kuchinskiy informed us that Izvestia is indeed a respected news source, but like we anticipated, the translation is erroneous. Literally it means “Skolkovo has some plans find investors and has invited to come and work in skolkovo. They have some talks to work but there is no plans to open Apple center in Russia, it is like thay just send invitation and google, facebook, apple just thinking, that’s it

According to a translated report from Russian publication Izvestia (via MacRumors), Apple is one of a handful of tech companies, including Google and Facebook, in talks to open a research facility at the Skolkovo Innovation center near Moscow, Russia. We will have to take this report for what it is; we are skeptical given a long line of rumors this week that came mostly from poorly translated reports that were all later debunked. First, we heard rumors about Apple acquiring German TV manufacturer Loewe, which was debunked later, and then China Daily misquoted Foxconn’s Terry Gou. Finally, Apple allegedly ordered “huge” numbers of flexible displays from Samsung for the next iPhone—debunked. We are hoping for a follow-up from an additional source. If you are in the area, hit us on tips@9to5mac.com.

Samsung says iTV cannot compete because TV is about picture quality

Site default logo image

With Apple and Samsung caught up in ongoing patent disputes worldwide for various smartphone and tablet devices, the proposition of an Apple-branded HDTV would have Samsung once again defending its market share from Apple. This time it is in the living room—a market Samsung largely dominates. However, if you ask Samsung’s AV Product Manager Chris Moseley, Apple is not ready to compete with his company’s experience as a TV manufacturer, specifically when it comes to picture quality. Moseley talked to Pocket-lint in Prague at a Samsung press event:


Expand
Expanding
Close