Apple has taken the unusual step of cutting about 100 employees in its Digital Services Group, Bloomberg News reported on the 27th (local time), citing sources.
According to the report, Eddie Q, Vice President in charge of the Services Group, informed the relevant employees of the layoffs on the same day. Some engineers were also included in the cuts. The largest scale of layoffs was confirmed to have taken place in the teams responsible for Apple Books and the Apple Bookstore. Other service teams, such as the Apple News operations team, were also included in the layoff list.
Bloomberg analyzed that this is part of a shift in priorities within Apple. In the case of Apple Books, it was evaluated as not being a major segment within Apple's service lineup, leading to large-scale layoffs. The news agency noted, "There have been four rounds of workforce reductions at Apple this year," but added, "Layoffs remain a relatively rare measure."
The Services division has served as a growth engine for Apple in recent years. It accounted for more than 22% of revenue in the last fiscal year. Compared to just single-digit percentages a decade ago, this represents significant growth. Bloomberg pointed out that at times, growth in the Services division has offset performance slowdowns caused by weak demand for devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
Other IT companies besides Apple have also recently undertaken layoffs. Earlier, Cisco Systems reduced about 7% of its total workforce. Intel cut more than 15%.
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