You seem to misunderstand what R&D covers. It’s not just innovation. It’s figuring out the best plastics to use, what glass is best, what should the curve of the handles be and how strong? What type of battery do we use? What material to use to protect the USB-C port? Etc
There are R&D costs for Bic lighters and they haven’t changed in decades.
Look at this thing and tell me any great deal of innovation occurred.
You seem to misunderstand what R&D covers. It’s not just innovation. It’s figuring out the best plastics to use, what glass is best, what should the curve of the handles be and how strong? What type of battery do we use? What material to use to protect the USB-C port? Etc
There are R&D costs for Bic lighters and they haven’t changed in decades.
Just because the electrical engineers got an easy task, it doesn’t mean the other engineers did.