Apple's new chief executive John Ternus is planning job cuts and project cancellations as rising memory chip prices squeeze the iPhone maker's margins, Bloomberg reported.
The layoffs are said to range from small numbers within large teams, alongside the scrapping of some projects.
Apple shares edged up in pre-market trading after closing 2.7% lower at $329.40 on Tuesday.
New chief executives often trim headcount early to stamp their authority on a business.
In Apple's case, the cuts appear to be driven more by cost pressure.
Memory squeeze
In late July, Apple issued cautious revenue guidance for the current quarter because it could not buy enough memory chips to meet demand.
Profit margins also came under pressure as memory prices climbed.
On his final earnings call, former chief executive Tim Cook described the situation as a "100-year flood" in memory pricing and said Apple had reluctantly raised prices.
Tech commentator Rohan Paul noted that services revenue also fell quarter on quarter in June, for the first time since 2022.
The shortage stems from the AI boom.
Demand for high-bandwidth memory and advanced DRAM used in AI servers is outstripping supply.
SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron have largely sold out their premium AI memory capacity for much of 2026, as Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta race to build data centres.
Supply is expected to stay tight into 2027.
Job cuts could help Apple absorb some of the extra cost and avoid bigger price rises next year if the shortage persists.
The world's most valuable consumer brand is finding that AI's hunger for chips starts at home.
