Apple cuts over 200 jobs in Vision Pro gaming, Immersive Video, Siri teams amid pivot to AI and new devices

Apple is eliminating more than 200 positions across teams responsible for its Siri digital assistant and Vision Pro headset, including units focused on gaming and immersive video content, as the company reallocates resources toward artificial intelligence and upcoming hardware.

According to Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman, the cuts include roughly 100 roles from the Vision Pro organization and another 100 from Siri and related software groups. Apple is largely shutting down the Vision Pro gaming team and reducing the size of the unit that produces immersive video for the headset. The company is also laying off employees in its Intelligent Systems Experience team, which handles certain AI features on Apple devices.

The moves reflect a shift in priorities. Immersive video production has proven costly (individual episodes can run into the millions of dollars) while the limited number of active Vision Pro users has made the investment less viable. Going forward, Apple plans to create a smaller volume of in-house immersive content and lean more on third-party creators. Employees were told the Vision Pro and its visionOS software are not being discontinued. In the near term, the company is concentrating on smart glasses that would not support advanced gaming or immersive video, while a successor Vision Pro model remains under consideration for as early as the end of 2028.

On the Siri side, the reductions stem from the transition to a more advanced, AI-powered version of the assistant. The new system requires different technical expertise, prompting Apple to eliminate some existing roles, reallocate staff, and open new positions focused on the updated technology.

In a statement, Apple said it is realigning teams “to evolve our business to deliver the best experiences for our users.” The company noted that while new roles will be created, a limited number of existing positions will be affected. It expressed gratitude to impacted employees and said it would support them through the transition, including opportunities to apply for other roles at Apple.

The job cuts come as Apple intensifies efforts in generative AI and prepares new product categories, even as the Vision Pro has struggled to achieve broad adoption since its 2024 launch.

‎
MacDailyNews Take: “Your invaluable contributions to the version of Siri that somehow managed to remain stubbornly mediocre-at-best for over a decade and a half, and to our very expensive alpha hardware that never should have shipped to the public in its current form, are no longer required. Thank you for your service. Please exit through the gift shop.”

Meanwhile, the company continues hiring aggressively for the actual AI-powered Siri and the devices that might one day make spatial computing something other than a very costly, rather heavy curiosity.

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]

The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.