Apple has taken an unusual turn this month by cutting dozens of jobs from its global sales division, a development that has caught many employees off guard. The company is headed into one of its strongest quarters in years, yet teams inside Apple say they began receiving notices over the past couple of weeks about roles being eliminated. For a company that rarely conducts broad layoffs, the announcement has created surprise and confusion, especially since Apple insists the latest move is part of a plan to reach more customers, not a sign of financial stress.
People familiar with the restructuring told Bloomberg that the cuts span several parts of Apple’s sales organisation. Account managers who handle relationships with major corporate clients, schools and universities, as well as government agencies, were among those affected. Staff who run Apple’s private briefing centres, the spaces where large clients are shown product demonstrations, also found their roles included in the overhaul. Employees were not told how many positions in total were being removed, but multiple teams have reportedly been affected.
The company has publicly acknowledged the changes but avoided giving specifics. In its official statement, Apple 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, the message is that the sales department is being streamlined and overlapping duties are being addressed.
Yet there is another interpretation circulating among some of the departing staff. They believe the company is trying to move more business through third-party resellers, referred to internally as “the channel.” The argument is simple: many organisations prefer dealing with resellers anyway, and moving more sales outside Apple allows the company to lower payroll costs while still serving the same clients. To them, the restructuring looks less like an efficiency exercise and more like a strategic move to offload responsibility.
This latest round of cuts follows smaller reductions made recently in Australia and New Zealand, where around 20 roles were removed. In the current wave, even employees who have been with Apple for decades have been hit. One of the hardest-affected groups is a government sales team that handles accounts like the US Defense Department and Justice Department. Their workload had already been strained due to a long US government shutdown and tight spending rules from the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been pushing agencies to reduce expenses.
Employees whose positions have been eliminated have until January 20 to find another role inside the company. Apple is offering severance to those unable to secure a transfer and is currently advertising multiple sales openings. The company has encouraged the impacted staff to apply for these roles, though some feel the available positions may not match their previous responsibilities.
The decision also reflects the leadership structure of Apple’s sales operations. The division reports directly to CEO Tim Cook and is led by long-time executive Mike Fenger. Earlier this year, Fenger’s deputy, Vivek Thakkar, saw his responsibilities expand to include all enterprise and education sales worldwide. Sources say the ongoing changes align with that change in oversight.
Even though Apple tends to avoid major layoffs, the company has made tough calls over the past year as global conditions changed. Several high-profile projects were cancelled, including the long-running autonomous car programme and an internal display technology effort, both of which led to job losses across hardware, AI and services teams.
In comparison to the wider tech industry, Apple’s cuts are still modest. Amazon recently announced more than 14,000 layoffs, and Meta trimmed several hundred roles in its AI group. Apple’s move does not come close to those numbers, but internally it marks one of the more notable reorganisations in recent years, particularly because it comes at a time when the company is preparing a new entry-level laptop aimed at expanding its reach among business and education buyers.
