Apple is the latest big tech company to start layoffs
The tech giant is making a small number of job cuts
Apple will reportedly lay off a small portion of its corporate retail workforce following sweeping job cuts across the tech sector over the last few months.
According to a new Bloomberg report, the tech giant is axing a “small number of roles within its corporate retail teams” as part of a belt-tightening initiative it began last year.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Apple layoffs
🙁 Apple is axing a small number of jobs in its corporate retail team
🍏 It’s the first layoffs the tech giant has made since the tech job cuts began
🙌 The number of job cuts likely won’t come anywhere close to those made at other companies
🤔 But it’s a signal of Apple’s belt-tightening strategy
The layoffs will impact those responsible for overseeing the construction and upkeep of Apple’s brick-and-mortar retail stores and other facilities across the world.
It’s unclear exactly how many people will be affected, although Bloomberg says the total number of layoffs is likely “very small”. It will almost certainly be lower than the 12,000 positions that Google axed, the 11,000 jobs Meta cut and the 10,000 employees Microsoft let go.
Big tech companies have made sweeping layoffs in recent months in light of a global economic slowdown. Several said the growth they received during and briefly after the pandemic was unsustainable, and job cuts were necessary to prepare for a harsher economic environment.
Until now, Apple has been one of the only major tech players to have staved off full-time employee layoffs. While it still looks as though the company has avoided mass redundancies, it can no longer claim to have avoided them entirely.
Apple looks to have a busy year ahead. It’s expected to finally release its long-anticipated mixed-reality headset, which if rumors are to be believed, is shaping up to be a real beast of a device. Apple is likely to publicly unveil the kit in a few month’s time at its Worldwide Developer Conference scheduled for June 5.
Though it will have plenty to compete with. Between Sony’s new PSVR 2, the upcoming Meta Quest 3, and other premium headsets like the HTC Vive XR Elite, the virtual reality space is becoming rather crowded.
On top of that, a new 15-inch MacBook Air may arrive in only a few weeks and the HomePod 2 is on the horizon. Layoffs or not, Apple certainly isn’t slowing down.