Apple to Cut Back on Hiring Due to iPhone Sales Slowdown: Bloomberg

Slumping iPhone sales have caused Apple to rethink its hiring strategies for certain divisions.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Apple will cut back on hiring for some divisions after selling fewer iPhones than expected and missing its revenue forecast for the holiday quarter.

The move is due to weak iPhone sales, as well as the company slashing its revenue forecast for the holiday quarter, say the sources. Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, assured employees during a meeting that Apple would not be implementing a complete hiring freeze.

Cook also reportedly stressed during the meeting that hiring rates aren’t an indicator of how important a division is to the company and that some units, like Apple’s artificial intelligence division, are going to keep adding employees “at a strong pace.”



Moving into the future, Tim Cook stressed to employees the importance of its services business. The CEO also states that the situation gives Apple “an opportunity to learn and to take action.” This was reiterated later on in separate meetings held by senior vice presidents with vice presidents, senior directors, and other managers.

An Apple spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, says the report. Apple has been on a hiring spree in the past decade, but the pace of headcount growth has slowed in recent years. The company added about 9,000 workers in its most-recent fiscal year for a total of 132,000. A year earlier, Apple added roughly 7,000 employees.