Apple drew up a plan over the summer to lay off about 5,000 AppleCare customer support workers and hand a large part of their work to AI agents. That plan has now been put on hold. According to a Bloomberg report, the move was based on the belief that Apple’s improved AI-powered phone and web agents could take over portions of what these support staff handle every day.Many of the workers in line for the cuts were home-based employees. Bloomberg said Apple is not currently looking to go ahead with the layoffs, and the company has not publicly commented on the proposal. The decision comes just weeks after John Ternus, Apple’s former hardware engineering chief, took over as CEO from Tim Cook on September 1.
Apple already uses AI to answer AppleCare calls
Shelving the layoffs does not mean Apple is stepping away from automated support. Calls to the AppleCare line in the US and Canada are already routed to a generative AI voice assistant, a change that surfaced in August. The summer plan would have taken this much further, letting AI absorb work done by thousands of human advisors.AppleCare covers troubleshooting, repairs, account queries and service plans across many Apple products. The report does not say why Apple stepped back from the cuts.
John Ternus wants a smaller, faster Apple
The AppleCare reversal sits inside a much wider overhaul. Bloomberg reports that Ternus wants to speed up product development, broaden Apple’s range of devices and build a leaner company with a sharper focus on engineering.Part of that plan removes layers of middle management between engineers and senior executives. Employees in those roles have been given weeks to find other positions inside Apple, and those who don’t will be laid off later this year. Smaller cuts have also hit the Siri, Vision Pro, AI software and Fitness+ teams.Some divisions had been expecting bigger budgets and more headcount in 2027. Headcount is now set to stay flat, which typically means little new hiring.
Apple’s spring and autumn launch calendar may loosen up
Ternus, 51, has pushed for a leaner Apple for years. While leading hardware engineering, he told staff at an all-hands meeting that the company should hire fewer people, ask more of its existing engineers and cut organisational bloat.He also wants Apple to rely less on its fixed spring and autumn launch windows, which could see new products arrive at different points through the year. On the services front, he is working with services chief Eddy Cue and CFO Kevan Parekh to grow revenue and launch new offerings.For AppleCare employees, the immediate news is a relief. The 5,000 jobs are safe for now. How long that holds will depend largely on how well Apple’s AI agents perform on a support line they already share with human advisors.
