Apple has laid off around 100 employees from its digital services group, marking a rare instance of job cuts at the company.
The layoffs are believed to have been part of a strategic shift in Apple's priorities and were announced to affected employees yesterday, according to sources familiar with the matter (via Bloomberg).
Apple's layoffs affected teams in Senior Vice President Eddy Cue's services division, including some engineering positions, with the most significant cuts coming among Apple Books workers.
Apple lays off employees
Other teams also saw some layoffs, including Apple News, though the app remains a key part of the company's strategy and is part of the top-tier Apple One Premier subscription — there's also a free version of the service available with less content.
Despite the changes, Apple Books is still expected to receive updates and new features, suggesting that Apple has not turned its back on the service.
More broadly, and under CEO Tim Cook's leadership, Apple has boosted its services revenue, which now accounts for more than a fifth (22%) of the company's total revenue, up from less than a tenth a decade ago. Services generated $24.2 billion in revenue for the company in the most recent quarter.
While layoffs are rare at Apple, there have already been four rounds of job cuts in 2024. Earlier this year, Apple laid off hundreds of people on its self-driving car project and scaled back its efforts in the field of microLED displays.
TechRadar Pro has asked Apple for comment on the latest layoffs, but did not immediately receive a response.
However, the company's workers have been relatively lucky compared to employees at other tech giants: Google started the year by laying off about 1,000 workers, and has made seven more similar announcements in the months since (according to layoffs.fyi).
