Apple has initiated a rare round of job cuts within its global sales organisation, surprising employees across multiple regions. Despite heading into what analysts expect to be one of its strongest financial quarters in years, several teams within Apple have begun receiving role-elimination notices over the past few weeks.
Layoffs at Apple are uncommon, especially on such a scale, which has led to uncertainty and speculation inside the company. Apple, however, maintains that the restructuring is part of a broader strategy to improve its reach and engagement with customers—not a sign of financial pressure.
According to individuals familiar with the matter cited by a news agency, the cuts span a wide section of Apple’s business-to-business and institutional sales operations.
Among those affected:
Account managers responsible for Apple’s relationships with top enterprise clients
Teams that work with schools, universities, and government institutions
Staff managing Apple’s private briefing centres, where elite clients receive exclusive product demonstrations
Several long-tenured employees who have served the company for decades
While Apple did not disclose the total number of job losses, internal reports indicate that several units across different markets have experienced workforce reductions.
The company addressed the changes publicly while avoiding detailed explanations about the scale of the cuts.
In its brief comment, the company said:
“To connect with even more customers, we are making some changes in our sales team that affect a small number of roles. We are continuing to hire and those employees can apply for new roles.”
Internally, Apple is presenting the restructuring as an effort to eliminate overlapping duties, modernise its sales processes, and create a more efficient organisation capable of reaching a broader global audience.
Not all employees agree with Apple’s framing of the decision. Some departing workers believe the changes reflect a deeper shift in how Apple wants to conduct business.
Several outgoing staff members argue that Apple is pushing more business through third-party resellers, known internally as “the channel.” Their reasoning:
Many organisations prefer working with authorised resellers.
Moving more enterprise and government deals to the channel could reduce Apple’s payroll costs.
Apple could maintain high-volume sales without needing the same number of in-house account managers.
To these employees, the restructuring feels less like streamlining and more like outsourcing responsibility.
These new layoffs follow a smaller reduction in Apple’s workforce earlier this year in Australia and New Zealand, where around 20 roles were cut. The fresh wave expands the restructuring effort into Apple’s core U.S. and international sales infrastructure.
Among the most affected groups is the sales team that manages Apple’s relationship with major U.S. government agencies, including:
The US Defense Department
The Justice Department
Their workload was already stretched due to the extended U.S. government shutdown and strict spending rules imposed by the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been pressuring agencies to reduce expenditures.
Employees whose current positions have been eliminated must find another job inside Apple by January 20. Those who cannot secure a transfer will receive severance packages. Apple is also advertising several new sales openings, but some affected staff believe these roles do not align with their previous responsibilities or seniority.
The reorganisation is also shaped by the structure of Apple’s sales leadership. The division reports directly to CEO Tim Cook, with long-time executive Mike Fenger overseeing operations.
Earlier this year, Fenger’s deputy, Vivek Thakkar, had his role expanded to take charge of all global enterprise and education sales. Sources say the ongoing reshuffle aligns with this leadership change, likely part of a long-term organisational consolidation effort.
While Apple traditionally avoids mass layoffs, the company has made difficult decisions over the past 12–18 months as global market conditions evolved.
Some major discontinued projects include:
The long-running autonomous car project
An internal display technology initiative
These cancellations resulted in job losses across Apple’s hardware, AI, and services teams.
In contrast to the wider tech landscape:
Amazon cut more than 14,000 jobs
Meta eliminated several hundred roles within its AI division
By comparison, Apple’s workforce reductions remain modest—but internally significant given Apple’s culture of stability.
The timing of the layoffs is notable because Apple is preparing to release a new entry-level MacBook aimed at expanding its presence in both the education and enterprise sectors. Analysts believe this product could help Apple compete more aggressively against Windows laptops in large institutional markets.
Apple’s latest round of job cuts marks one of the more sizable restructuring efforts within the company’s sales division in recent years. While the tech giant insists that the adjustments are aimed at connecting with more customers and improving organisational efficiency, internal reactions reflect mixed interpretations—some see a shift toward third-party resellers, while others attribute the changes to leadership realignment.
Even though Apple’s layoffs are far smaller compared to competitors like Amazon and Meta, the move signals a significant strategic recalibration as the company prepares to strengthen its presence in core markets, including enterprise and education, with new hardware offerings. As employees navigate the January 20 reassignment deadline, Apple’s restructuring will likely continue shaping its sales operations well into 2025.