For comparison's sake, Apple's ad budget in 2012 was $1 billion [0], so they just purchased almost 60% of their own advertisement budget in just sapphire.

[0] http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/00011931251244... ("Advertising costs are expensed as incurred. Advertising expense was $1.0 billion, $933 million and $691 million for 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.")

How is this bold in comparison to Google buying Motorola for $12B on the premise that it afforded patent protection?

Apple's move here is a solid move to secure supply of a key material/component for their devices.

Meanwhile Moto has yet to produce a profit, much less meaningful patent protection for Google.