Apple's Latest Layoff Landed In Its Digital Services Division
1min read According to insiders, on Tuesday, Apple laid off about 100 employees in its digital services division, indicating that Apple is undergoing a strategic realignment of its business focus.
The insiders said the company notified the affected employees on Tuesday, who worked in several teams within the services division overseen by Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue.
It is said that these employees were told that they have 60 days to find another job within Apple before being laid off. As some employees work on multiple teams simultaneously, other business departments of Apple have also been indirectly affected.
The layoffs included some engineering positions, with the largest number of layoffs being the team responsible for the Apple Books application and Apple Bookstore. Other service teams were also laid off, including the team operating Apple News.
This may indicate that businesses such as Apple Books are no longer a business focus for Apple, and have also been excluded from the focus of its services lineup.
Of course, this does not mean Apple has completely given up on the Apple Books application. According to insiders, Apple's applications are still expected to receive new features over time. As for Apple News, sources revealed that the layoffs do not mean its attention will decrease.
In recent years, the services business has been a growth engine for Apple. In the most recent fiscal year, the services business accounted for more than 22% of Apple's total sales, while ten years ago this proportion was less than 10%. With the growth of Apple's services division, Apple can also gain momentum for performance growth during sluggish demand for smartphones.
Looking back at previous years, layoffs are relatively rare at Apple. However, this year seems to be different.
So far in 2024, Apple has carried out at least four rounds of layoffs: earlier this year, Apple closed its autonomous driving car project and the production department of microLED displays, laying off hundreds of employees. It also disbanded an AI research and development team in San Diego, with 121 people laid off.
Apple's latest regulatory disclosure report shows that it has about 161,000 full-time or equivalent full-time employees.
In addition to Apple, some other technology companies in Silicon Valley are also laying off on a large scale to cope with economic growth slowdown and the transformation of the labor market to artificial intelligence. Recently, Cisco Systems announced plans to lay off about 7% of its employees, and Intel plans to lay off more than 15%.
