iPhone maker Apple has reportedly taken the unusual step of laying off around 100 people from its digital services division, which includes the Apple News and Apple Books apps, as it realigns its priorities to focus on artificial intelligence.
Affected employees, including several engineers, were informed of the decision on Tuesday. According to Bloomberg News.
Apple Books, which allows users to buy and download e-books and audiobooks, is considered a low priority at the Cupertino, California-based tech giant, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
The cuts also affected employees at Apple News, a news aggregation app that combines articles from different publishers into a single personalized feed, but sources told Bloomberg that the service remains a priority for the company.
Affected workers were given 60 days to find alternative employment within the company before being fired.
Apple declined to comment on the Bloomberg News report.
According to the company's most recent annual report, as of September 30, 2023, the company had approximately 161,000 full-time equivalent employees.
Apple, the world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, has rarely cut staff in the past, but has cut staff at least four times this year.
Apple cut hundreds of jobs in the spring after abandoning its self-driving car project.
According to media reports, the company has already halted development of its next high-end Vision headset, and earlier this year dropped a project to design and develop its own smartwatch display.
Other tech companies have also made far more extensive layoffs than Apple.
Tech companies around the world have cut more than 134,000 jobs since the start of the year, according to the tracker site. Layoffs. FYI.
LinkedIn laid off 660 employees, and Intel laid off more than 15,000 workers.
Apple snapped a long period of sluggish sales in the most recent quarter and is poised to cash in on an artificial intelligence boom with a slate of new technologies that are expected to spur demand for the next iPhone.
The company's third-quarter results, released earlier this month, covered the typically slow period for Apple between April and June, with its loyal customer base waiting for the next iPhone, which is traditionally released just after Labor Day.
Still, Apple increased sales year over year, a welcome reversal after five consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines.
With post wire
