While most major tech companies have announced layoffs over the past year, Apple has been an exception to this activity. However, this week, the company reportedly decided to cut about 100 of its team members who have worked in its online services division.
Bloomberg reports, via unnamed sources, that some of the employees who were affected worked on the Apple News and Apple Books teams. The story says the job cuts also affected other teams in the company's online services division, which Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue leads.
The report says that these layoffs were due in part to a shift in the priorities in Apple's online services division. In particular, the Apple Books team is now seen as becoming less of a priority for the company, although the story did state that the Books app will continue to be updated with new features. The layoffs in the Apple News division do not signal a change in priorities for that team, according to the story.
While this move to cut team members is rare for Apple, it's not unheard of. In February 2024, Apple reportedly shut down its efforts to develop its own car, which had been in development for many years. That division had over 2,000 employees when it closed, but some of them were reportedly kept in Apple to work in its AI division. There's been no word on how many of those Apple Car team members were outright laid off.
These job cuts come just as Apple is preparing for what is usually its biggest event of the year. Earlier this week, the company announced it will hold a media event on September 9. Likely, the company will officially announce its new iPhone 16 smartphones, along with the Apple Watch Series 10 smartwatch, new AirPods, and possibly more.
source