Apple Plans to Cut Back on Hiring as iPhone Sales Drop

Tim Cook made the declaration in a meeting with employees. Reports suggest that Apple is also looking at slow sales for iPhones as an opportunity for new innovation.

(Photo: AP)

Tech giant Apple is planning to cut back on hiring for some divisions after the sales figures for iPhones took a hit and Apple missed its revenue forecast, reported Bloomberg.

CEO Tim Cook, according to the Bloomberg report, broke the news earlier this month in a meeting on the next day of writing a letter to investors about cutting iPhone production by 10 percent in China.

During the meeting, Cook was questioned on imposing a hiring freeze, which he declined, saying it was not the solution.

He suggested some divisions to reduce hiring, sources told Bloomberg.

However, the Apple boss is yet to decide the divisions that would cut hiring, emphasising that a division’s importance to Apple isn’t measured by hiring rates.

According to Bloomberg, Apple's hiring spree since the past decade has slowed down 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.

Bloomberg also said that the hiring cut will not affect plans to open new offices in Austin, Texas, nor expand in the Los Angeles area, where Apple is said to be working on its original video content team.

As Tim Cook met with employees, Apple’s senior executives met to figure out how slumping iPhone sales can be an opportunity for new innovation, according to one of the sources quoted by Bloomberg.

All these developments of slow sales, hiring cut and missing revenue comes just months after Apple became the first US publicly traded company to pass the $1 trillion market capitalisation threshold. According to Bloomberg, Apple has lost almost $300 billion in value since then.

(With inputs from Bloomberg.)