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Apple AAPL+0.75% carried out at least its fourth wave of job cuts this year, after avoiding much of the dreaded post-pandemic layoffs that battered the tech sector last year.
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant laid off 100 workers in its digital services group, Bloomberg reported citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The services teams for the Apple Books app and Apple Bookstore, were hardest hit.
Other impacted teams included Apple News and engineering roles, according to the publication. The people told Bloomberg that the move was part of a “shift in priorities” for the services unit.
Apple did not immediately reply to Quartz’s request for comment.
Books, in particular, has become less of a focus for Apple, according to Bloomberg, but the app is still expected to receive future updates. On the other hand, News will continue to be a priority, despite the cuts.
While Apple has not been in the business of slashing its headcount, this is not the iPhone maker’s first reduction this year. In March, Apple notified 614 workers across its California offices that they would be let go in late May.
In January, Apple said it would be shutting down its 121-person team that works on AI features in San Diego, giving employees an ultimatum to relocate or face layoffs. One month later, the tech giant cancelled its autonomous car program and gave some employees in the division three months to find reassignments within the company — or be laid off.
This year so far, 412 tech companies have had layoffs, affecting 134,061 employees, according to tech sector layoff tracker layoffs.fyi. While 2023 was a bloodbath, with massive cuts at some of the largest tech companies, including Microsoft MSFT+1.05%, Google GOOGL+1.60%, and Amazon AMZN+2.39%, 2024 has not been much better.
Many of those same companies started the year by carrying out cuts that numbered in the thousands. And that has continued well into the year, with other tech giants looking to trim layers and expenses. Intel INTC+9.25%, for example, recently announced that it will be cutting about 15% of its workforce, or 15,000 jobs, as part of a cost-cutting plan.