Cannington Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers and related software. Cannington also manufactures and distributes music players $($cPod$),$ mobile phones $($cPhone$),$ and smartwatches $($Cannington 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 Cannington:

Cannington:

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

a$.$ Compute the book value of the fixed assets for the current year and the preceding year.

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

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

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 Cannington's book value of fixed assets to increase or decrease during the year?