Tech layoffs: Apple quietly fired 3rd party contractors, according to reports

After Elon Musk started slashing Twitter's workforce, all big tech firms including Google and Microsoft also succumbed to the need for cutting costs. As the tech sector and other industries fell like a house of cards amid headwinds, firing more than three lakh employees, Apple remained resilient. Weeks after CEO Tim Cook said that layoffs will be a last resort for the smartphone maker, Apple has started slashing third party contractors.

Contracts are up for renewal in in 12 to 15 months, but instead of waiting for them to expire, the iPhone maker has simply started sacking people. Although it hasn't announced layoffs of its permanent employees, hundreds of contractors have been pushed out quietly to reduce expenses. Reports suggest that Apple has agreements with thousands of contractors, although it has never revealed the exact number.

Although Tim Cook had said that Apple would try to cut costs through other measures, he added that the firm can never say never to layoffs. Like Google and Facebook, which have been facing a drop in ad revenues, Apple has also faced a 5 per cent drop in income. Its supply chain had also been hit by protests at its supplier Foxconn's main manufacturing unit in China.

So far Apple has been able to resist the layoff wave, which has hit every firm from Meta to Salesforce and Cisco, because it didn't hire too many people after a demand surge for tech during the pandemic.