Question

Are all costs clearly identifiable as either fixed or variable for Apple?

Answer 1

A fixed cost is a cost that does not change with an increase or decrease in the amount of goods or services produced or sold. A variable cost is a corporate expense that changes in proportion with production output.

Thus, the boundary between these two is not clearly defined, One type of cost which seems like a fixed cost in the short run can be a variable cost in the long run. So, for Apple, the rental cost is no longer a fixed cost when we look at a plant which is producing similar amount of output every month and paying the rent for each month.

Thus, the costs are not clearly identifiable. Also, different capital input costs of Apple are confusing for any binary classification.