Apple has been one of the few companies to remain largely unaffected by the round of layoffs at Big Tech.
But marking another targeted workforce reduction at a company that has largely avoided the sweeping layoffs seen across Big Tech, Apple is cutting more than 200 jobs across teams.
These teams include employees working on Siri, artificial intelligence, and Vision Pro.
The cuts affect about 100 positions in Apple’s Vision Pro organization and roughly another 100 across Siri and software teams, Bloomberg reported.
A newly filed California WARN notice, reviewed by TheStreet, now provides a more detailed look at part of the reduction.
Apple said it will permanently eliminate 147 positions across three Bay Area locations:
- 79 jobs at One Apple Park Way in Cupertino
- 28 at 599 N. Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale
- 40 at 605 W. Maude Avenue in Sunnyvale
The separations are expected to occur on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, 2026. The affected employees are not represented by a union and do not have contractual bumping rights.
The filing shows the cuts include software development engineers, machine-learning and AI/ML roles, computer-vision engineers, engineering program managers, and AR/VR software developers.
The two Sunnyvale sites alone account for more than 30 AR/VR software-development positions.
The cuts come only months after another Apple workforce reduction previously reported by TheStreet.
Apple planned to close its Towson Town Center store in Maryland in June, affecting 78 employees.
The closure drew an unfair labor practice complaint from the union representing workers, which accused Apple of denying them transfer opportunities given to employees at other closing stores.
Apple disputed those allegations and said the Towson closure was tied to conditions at the mall.
Apple’s previous known reductions were in November 2025, when the company eliminated some sales positions, and in 2024, when more than 600 workers were affected after Apple ended its electric-car project.
These new cuts land inside two businesses Apple has spent years positioning as part of its future: artificial intelligence and spatial computing.
Apple is rebuilding Siri
The Siri reductions arrive less than three months after Apple introduced an entirely rebuilt version of its digital assistant at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
TheStreet reported in June that Apple’s AI strategy was facing a crucial test at WWDC after years of investor concern that the company had fallen behind rivals in generative AI.
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Bank of America had identified a more capable Siri, agentic AI, on-device models, and Private Cloud Compute as key developments investors needed to see.
Apple’s answer was Siri AI.
The company described it as an entirely new version of Siri, built on a new architecture and capable of using personal context, understanding what is on a user’s screen, searching across apps, and drawing on information from the web.
TheStreet subsequently reported that Bank of America saw the overhaul as important to Apple’s broader AI investment case, particularly whether a more capable Siri could give customers another reason to upgrade their devices.
Goldman Sachs made a similar argument after WWDC: Apple does not simply need to prove that it can build AI.
It needs AI to make its devices more useful, encourage upgrades, and eventually create more opportunities for its Services business.
The latest restructuring now shows the workforce consequences of that transition. Bloomberg reported that the Siri cuts are tied to the assistant’s new technical architecture, which requires different expertise.
Apple is eliminating some existing roles, reallocating resources, and creating new positions supporting the updated system.
That makes the Siri cuts less a retreat from AI than a change in who and what Apple needs to build its next version.
Apple’s spending points to AI research
Apple’s latest financial results reflect that the company is spending substantially more on research and development, even as it eliminates some existing technology roles.
Apple spent about $11.7 billion on R&D in its fiscal third quarter, compared with roughly $8.9 billion a year earlier, an increase of about 32%.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2026, R&D expenses reached roughly $34 billion, up from about $25.7 billion in the prior-year period.
Apple said the increase was primarily driven by higher infrastructure costs, including investments in artificial intelligence, as well as higher headcount-related expenses.
Apple’s challenge is increasingly not whether it will spend on AI, but whether those billions translate into features compelling enough to strengthen iPhone upgrades, Services growth, and its broader ecosystem.
Vision Pro faces a different problem
The Vision Pro cuts point to a more difficult strategic adjustment.
AppleInsider first reported that Apple had laid off at least 60 workers tied to its Vision Products Group and related virtual-reality work.
The publication said an entire VR-focused group had been affected as Apple shifts more attention toward smart glasses and Siri AI.
Apple is not abandoning Vision Pro. It continues to develop VisionOS, and its newest Siri AI features are also being extended to Vision Pro.
The company has told employees that the headset and operating system are not going away, but the economics of the current product remain difficult.
AppleInsider noted that Vision Pro’s high price and heavy design have limited its appeal, while consumers have increasingly shown interest in lighter smart-glasses products.
Apple is therefore scaling back parts of the organization around its current headset while continuing to work on what could come after it.
That distinction matters.
The Vision Pro launched as Apple’s first major new hardware category in years and as the foundation for what the company calls spatial computing.
The latest layoffs suggest Apple still believes in wearable computing, but may no longer believe today’s version of Vision Pro warrants the same level of resources.
None of this is happening because Apple’s overall business is collapsing.
Apple reported $109.4 billion in fiscal third-quarter revenue, up 16% from a year earlier and the company’s strongest June quarter on record. Diluted earnings per share increased 29% to $2.02, while iPhone, Mac, and Services each set June-quarter revenue records.
That makes the most recent layoffs more about resource allocation than about broad cost reduction.
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