Benefit Plans

Stock Plans

The Company had 328.1 million shares reserved for future issuance under its stock plans as of July 1, 2017. RSUs granted generally vest over four years, based on continued employment, and are settled upon vesting in shares of the Company’s common stock on a one-for-one basis. Each share issued with respect to RSUs granted under the Company’s stock plans reduces the number of shares available for grant under the plan by two shares. RSUs canceled and shares withheld to satisfy tax withholding obligations increase the number of shares available for grant under the plans utilizing a factor of two times the number of RSUs canceled or shares withheld.

Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans

During the three months ended July 1, 2017, Section 16 officers Angela Ahrendts, Timothy D. Cook, Luca Maestri, Daniel Riccio and Philip Schiller had equity trading plans in place in accordance with Rule 10b5-1(c)(1) under the Exchange Act. An equity trading plan is a written document that pre-establishes the amounts, prices and dates (or formula for determining the amounts, prices and dates) of future purchases or sales of the Company’s stock, including shares acquired pursuant to the Company’s employee and director equity plans.

Restricted Stock Units

A summary of the Company’s RSU activity and related information for the nine months ended July 1, 2017 is as follows:



	Number of RSUs (in thousands)		Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share		Aggregate Fair Value (in millions)
Balance at September 24, 2016	99,089		$	97.54
RSUs granted	48,000		$	120.09
RSUs vested	(41,712	)	$	95.78
RSUs canceled	(4,779	)	$	106.75
Balance at July 1, 2017	100,598		$	108.59	$	14,488

RSUs that vested during the three- and nine-month periods ended July 1, 2017 had fair values of $2.8 billion and $5.4 billion, respectively, as of the vesting date. RSUs that vested during the three- and nine-month periods ended June 25, 2016 had fair values of $2.0 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively, as of the vesting date.

Share-Based Compensation

The following table shows a summary of the share-based compensation expense included in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three- and nine-month periods ended July 1, 2017 and June 25, 2016 (in millions):



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	July 1, 2017		June 25, 2016		July 1, 2017		June 25, 2016
Cost of sales	$	216	$	188	$	662	$	583
Research and development	566		479		1,730		1,413
Selling, general and administrative	411		387		1,274		1,184
Total share-based compensation expense	$	1,193	$	1,054	$	3,666	$	3,180

The income tax benefit related to share-based compensation expense was $380 million and $1.3 billion for the three- and nine-month periods ended July 1, 2017, respectively, and was $321 million and $1.1 billion for the three- and nine-month periods ended June 25, 2016, respectively. As of July 1, 2017, the total unrecognized compensation cost related to outstanding RSUs, restricted stock and stock options was $9.0 billion, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted-average period of 2.6 years.