In a relatively rare move for the world’s biggest iPhone maker, Apple has followed in its competitor’s footsteps with another round of layoffs.
Apple Layoff
Apple is conducting layoffs in its digital services division, according to a report by Bloomberg. While the company has not yet made the move public, this is expected to affect 100 jobs.
News and Books
The 100 people currently work for either the Apple News or Apple Books apps and were informed of the decision on Tuesday.
60 Days
According to Bloomberg, these workers have 60 days to either find a new position within the company or to leave altogether.
Shifting Priorities
These latest layoffs have come about as the company shifts its priorities away from digital services, focusing more attention and resources on the booming artificial intelligence industry, including AI research and software development.
A Lesser Priority
While positions at both Apple Books and Apple News were affected, Apple Books in particular is being relegated to the background, based on information Bloomberg received from people involved in the matter.
Created by Steve Jobs
Apple Books was created by founder and former CEO Steve Jobs back in 2010, with the intention to compete directly with Kindle. Ten years later, Kindle is still easily the world’s foremost e-reader.
News Still a Priority
Apple News, the company’s news aggregation app, is expected to remain more of a priority than Apple Books despite the layoff announcement, according to inside sources.
28% of Revenue
Digital services make up 28% of Apple’s overall revenue, according to its latest quarterly earnings reports, though it’s likely most of those sales are made up of App Store subscriptions and in-app purchases.
One of the Highest-Earning divisions
Regardless, this means that digital services brought in more revenue than Apple’s most iconic signature products, including the Mac and the iPad. It also beat out all of Apple’s wearable products, home products, and accessories combined.
Major Change in Ten Years
It’s a significant change for the digital services division, which accounted for only 10% of all Apple sales less than a decade ago.
Fastest-Growing Last Year
Apple’s digital services portfolio was the fastest-growing division of the monolithic company during the 2023 fiscal year and is expected to grow by a further 14% this quarter.
Four Rounds of Layoffs
It is not the first round of layoffs at Apple this year. The Cupertino-based company has conducted four rounds of job cuts since January, including letting go of 614 workers after canceling a self-driving EV project.
121 in January
It also laid off 121 employees from an AI technologies project in San Diego at the start of the year.
Small Compared to the Wider Industry
However, the company’s layoffs are minuscule in comparison to the tech industry at large. According to the layoff tracking site Layoffs.fyi, more than 134,000 tech jobs have been axed since the start of the year.
Cisco and Intel
Major tech companies like Cisco Systems and Intel have announced significant layoffs in recent months due to stagnant growth and a similar shift to prioritize AI research and development, like so many others in the tech space.
10,000 at Cisco
After an underwhelming fourth quarter last year, digital communications conglomerate Cisco Systems announced two rounds of layoffs this year, resulting in close to 10,000 jobs cut from its global workforce.
15% at Intel
In a similar move, another Silicon Valley giant, Intel Corp., announced plans to lay off 15% of its global workforce at the beginning of August in a bid to restructure the company and cult all “non-essential work.”
Barely a Dent
With a global workforce numbering more than 160,000 employees, according to its last annual report, Apple’s layoffs barely dent the company’s overall operations.
Signs of More to Come?
In general, layoffs are somewhat uncommon at Apple compared to its competitors, but recent announcements this year could be a sign of more to come at the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer.
No Comment
So far, the company has not yet responded to requests for comment on the latest layoff announcement.
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