Book value of fixed assets

Apple Inc. $($AAPL$)$ designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers and related software. Apple also manufactures and distributes music players $($iPod$),$ mobile phones $($iPhone$),$ and smartwatches $($Apple Watch$)$ along with related accessories and services, including online distribution of third$-$party music, videos, and applications. The following information was taken from a recent annual report of Apple:

Property, Plant, and Equipment $($in millions$)$:

Land and buildings

Machinery, equipment, and internal$-$use software

Other fixed assets

Accumulated depreciation and amortization

a$.$ Compute the book value of the fixed assets for th

Current year book value $($in millions$)$ $

Preceding year book value $($in millions$)$ $

A comparison of the book values of the current and preceding years indicates that they $$ A comparison of the total cost and accumulated depreciation reveals that Apple purchased $ $$ million of additional fixed assets, which was offset by the additional depreciation expense of $ $$ million taken during the current year.

b$.$ Would you normally expect Apple's book value of fixed assets to increase or decrease during the year?