Benefit Plans

Stock Plans

The Company had 317.4 million shares reserved for future issuance under its stock plans as of April 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 cancelled 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 cancelled or shares withheld.

Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans

During the three months ended April 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 six months ended April 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	45,313		$	118.36
RSUs vested	(21,942	)	$	92.65
RSUs cancelled	(3,227	)	$	105.68
Balance at April 1, 2017	119,233		$	106.13	$	17,129

RSUs that vested during the three- and six-month periods ended April 1, 2017 had fair values of $460 million and $2.6 billion, respectively, as of the vesting date. RSUs that vested during the three- and six-month periods ended March 26, 2016 had fair values of $450 million and $2.5 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 six-month periods ended April 1, 2017 and March 26, 2016 (in millions):



	Three Months Ended				Six Months Ended
	April 1, 2017		March 26, 2016		April 1, 2017		March 26, 2016
Cost of sales	$	217	$	191	$	446	$	395
Research and development	575		468		1,164		934
Selling, general and administrative	425		389		863		797
Total share-based compensation expense	$	1,217	$	1,048	$	2,473	$	2,126

The income tax benefit related to share-based compensation expense was $424 million and $889 million for the three- and six-month periods ended April 1, 2017, respectively, and was $347 million and $760 million for the three- and six-month periods ended March 26, 2016, respectively. As of April 1, 2017, the total unrecognized compensation cost related to outstanding RSUs, restricted stock and stock options was $10.0 billion, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted-average period of 2.8 years.