Apple has put on hold a plan to lay off about 5,000 AppleCare customer support workers and shift a large part of their work to AI agents, according to a Bloomberg report. The company drew up the proposal over the summer. The latest report says Apple is not currently looking to go ahead with it.
What did the plan involve?
Apple reportedly believed its improved AI-powered phone and web agents could take over parts of the daily work handled by AppleCare staff. Many of the workers in line for the cuts were home-based employees.
AI is already on the AppleCare line
Shelving the layoffs does not mean Apple is moving away from automated support. MacRumors reported in August that calls to the AppleCare line in the US and Canada are already routed to a generative AI voice assistant. The summer plan would have gone much further by letting AI agents absorb work done by thousands of human advisors. AppleCare handles troubleshooting, repairs, account queries and service plans across Apple's products.
Timing under the new CEO
The decision comes weeks after John Ternus took over as Apple CEO from Tim Cook on September 1. Ternus, 51, was previously Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering. Cook has moved to the role of executive chairman.
Wider cuts under Ternus
The AppleCare plan is part of a broader overhaul under Ternus. He wants to remove some layers of middle management, speed up product development and build a leaner company with a sharper engineering focus. Over the past two weeks, Apple has dismissed several engineering programme managers in its hardware engineering group, including about half a dozen directors. They have weeks to find other roles inside Apple or face layoffs later this year. Apple has also made smaller cuts in its Siri, Vision Pro, AI software and Fitness+ teams.
Bloomberg also reports that some divisions had expected bigger budgets and more headcount in 2027, but headcount is now set to stay flat. The exact reason for why the layoffs in the AppleCare department were stalled is not known.
Looser product launch calendar
Ternus also wants Apple to rely less on its fixed spring and autumn launch windows. That could see new products arrive at different points through the year. On the services side, he is working with services chief Eddy Cue and CFO Kevan Parekh to grow revenue and launch new offerings.
What it means for AppleCare staff?
For now, the 5,000 AppleCare jobs are not at immediate risk. How long that holds could depend on how well Apple's AI agents perform on a support line they already share with human advisors.
