Apple's rare Bay Area layoffs hit Vision Pro and Siri teams amid AI shakeup
Published in Business News
Apple is laying off close to 150 employees, the latest tech titan to reduce staff amid the artificial intelligence boom.
Recent government filings showed that the iPhone maker is cutting 147 positions, mostly from its headquarters in Cupertino, California. It also disclosed layoffs in Sunnyvale.
Many of the roles were in software engineering and machine learning, according to the filings.
The teams affected were across Apple's Vision Pro and Siri digital assistant projects, Bloomberg reported. Last year, Apple paused further development of its Vision Pro headset to focus on smartglasses to rival Meta's Ray-Ban products.
The cuts come before a leadership change: Chief Executive Tim Cook steps down in September, and hardware chief John Ternus takes the helm. The company is looking to catch up with AI competitors with future projects.
In June, Apple laid off 57 employees in Escondido.
Meta, Snap, Block, Oracle and Amazon have also announced layoffs this year as they focus more on AI investments. While Apple's layoffs are uncommon and relatively small, other companies have laid off tens of thousands of employees in the last year.
From January to May, U.S. technology companies announced 123,653 cuts, up 66% from the same period in 2025, according to a June report from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The firm said that AI was the leading reason companies cited for cuts.
The AI boom has fueled more investments in data centers, commercial real estate and other areas. Advancements in AI tools have also been reshaping jobs, especially in Silicon Valley, the epicenter of the tech industry.
Tech companies have been citing various reasons for layoffs, including prioritizing investments in artificial intelligence. As workers use AI-powered tools to generate code, words and other content, some executives have said they don't need as many employees.
These layoffs come as New York outpaces the San Francisco area in recruiting tech talent.
Last year, the New York metro area's tech workforce reached 394,300, surpassing the Bay Area's 375,730, according to a report from CBRE.
The Bay Area's tech workforce dropped 6% from 2022 to 2025. New York's grew by more than 8% during that period.
The growth in New York highlights how tech workers are spilling into other industries and cities as Silicon Valley companies lay off workers.
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