Apple billionaire spend on appliances you'll never see

Apple is spending more on the machines that do the work behind the scenes of mass production iPhones, iPads and other devices. This includes equipment for polishing the new iPhone plastic machines 5c color , laser body sculpting milling aluminum MacBook and test equipment for the iPhone and the camera lens iPad ...

A good chunk of cash - over $ 7B last year - of course , is spent in the initial work on campus spaceship company, but Bloomberg sources say Apple has a practical approach to its manufacturing process .

Most companies will hire a design firm to create a representation of a product, throw it over the wall to China and then it comes to the Chinese engineers who do the detailed engineering work , "said Cormac Eubanks , director product development in industry design firm Frog design. " what Apple is not difficult and it takes a lot of time and money. "

Industrial Design Team Jony Ive reportedly building its own manufacturing and test equipment to develop new and innovative ways to manufacture their products and to ensure that what is designed is practical to build .

" His designs are so unique that you have to have a special manufacturing process to make it ," said Muthuraman Ramasamy , analyst at Frost & Sullivan , who has studied the use of machinery. "Apple has so much money they can invest in the cutting edge world class machinery normally used for aerospace and defense . "

The examples given of new manufacturing techniques and Apple designed tests in the past include :

A spinning -cube machine to ensure iPhone 4 gyroscopes were not sensitive enough for games

A new lamination technique display for the iMac 2012

A new method of applying anti-reflective coatings on MacBooks

In some cases , Apple builds the actual machinery that gives then their overseas suppliers for use during the manufacturing process .

If Apple is really planning to launch its long-rumored iWatch next year, it is likely that a group of that money will go to production technology and tests necessary for their manufacture.