Apple is the only tech giant that hasn’t announced thousands of layoffs, and there are several factors, one of which is that Apple hasn’t hired as many people in recent years.

It was good during the pandemic for tech companies, business was booming and big companies were hiring in unprecedented numbers. From the fall of 2019 to 2022, the number of Facebook employees doubled: at Microsoft, the increase was 53%, and at Google – 57%.

Apple’s headcount grew by only 20% to 164,000 employees, which explains a lot of the current situation: Apple was much more careful when hiring and didn’t pull out more than necessary, so now that they’ve hit a little tougher times, they no need to let go of many employees.

It is estimated that between the start of 20022 and today, technology companies have announced that they will lay off more than 200,000 people in total, including 18,000 at Amazon, 12,000 at Google, 11,000 at Facebook and 10,000 at Microsoft.

Apple’s last consecutive round of layoffs was 26 years ago, 4,100 people when Steve Jobs returned to the helm, and the company was extremely small compared to what it is today.

It was important for Apple not only that it was hiring much less aggressively than other companies, but also that the business model was more “resilient” to the crisis, and iPhone sales were doing well, growing almost 10% in the quarter since July through September

Apple tends to be more cautious than other big tech companies, releasing fewer products, taking a little less risk and not spending tens of billions of dollars when it comes to buying other companies.

October-December results probably won’t be as good in percentage terms, as Apple also has production issues in China. Apple has frozen hiring in some divisions, and in the medium term it may also lay off, but probably not at a rapid pace and without announcing several thousand at a time.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, AppleInsider