Apple Cuts Siri Staff Just Before a New CEO Takes Over

Apple laid off about 200 employees from its Siri and Vision Pro teams, just one week before John Ternus officially becomes its new CEO.

Apple laid off roughly 200 employees on August 21, 2026. The cuts hit jobs across Siri, Vision Pro, immersive video, and gaming teams. They effectively shut down the group building games for Vision Pro. They also trimmed the team producing 3D video content for the headset. A significant share of those affected worked directly on Siri, the voice assistant that has struggled to keep pace with AI chatbots from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

Why the Siri Cuts Matter More Than the Rest

Apple is now partnering with Google to rebuild Siri using Gemini technology. That project was already underway before these layoffs landed. Reassigning staff away from the current Siri effort, right as that partnership takes shape, signals how much Apple's approach to its own AI assistant is shifting.

Apple told Bloomberg it was realigning teams to help the business evolve. The company said it would create new roles alongside the changes, even as it eliminated some existing positions.

The other two teams hit hardest tell a related story:

• The Vision Pro gaming team, working on titles for a headset that has sold well below Apple's early expectations.

• A group producing immersive 3D video content, also tied to Vision Pro adoption falling short of plans.

Both cuts point to the same conclusion. Vision Pro hasn't found the audience Apple hoped for. The company is pulling back the investment that it assumed it would.

The Timing Nobody Is Ignoring

These layoffs land about one week before John Ternus takes over as Apple's next CEO. The timing has drawn its own share of attention, separate from the cuts themselves.

Making unpopular staffing decisions right before a leadership change is a familiar corporate pattern. It clears difficult decisions off the books before a new CEO's tenure begins. That lets Ternus start without inheriting the fallout from cuts made under his predecessor.

Apple's total headcount was 166,000 as of its last disclosure in September 2025. Against that scale, 200 layoffs are small in absolute terms. The specific teams affected, not the headcount, are what make this worth watching.

Why This Fits a Bigger Pattern in AI Competition

Siri's struggles aren't happening in isolation. Every major tech company is racing to build an AI assistant people actually want to use. Apple has visibly fallen behind on that front for over a year now.

Turning to Google for Gemini-powered Siri improvements is a notable admission. This company has historically built its core technology in-house. It now builds on outside AI infrastructure rather than competing with frontier labs directly on model quality alone. That same Gemini technology has drawn scrutiny recently, including reports that Gemini's hands-free listening feature turned itself back on without notice in Google Maps.

Why This Matters for Businesses Watching AI Competition

Apple restructuring its AI assistant team while quietly building on a competitor's technology sends a real signal. Building frontier AI capability independently has gotten hard, even for a company with Apple's resources.

Businesses evaluating their own AI strategy should take note directly. Deciding whether to build proprietary AI capability in-house or integrate an established model from an outside provider is no longer just a startup question. Large, well-resourced companies are actively revisiting that decision mid-course. Getting that call right for a conversational AI assistant, whether it's built from scratch or layered on top of an existing model, is exactly what Generative AI Services are designed to help evaluate.

Key Takeaways

• Apple cut about 200 jobs on August 21, 2026, across Siri, Vision Pro gaming, and immersive video teams.

• The cuts land roughly one week before John Ternus becomes Apple's new CEO.

• Apple is partnering with Google to rebuild Siri using Gemini technology.

• Vision Pro's underwhelming sales appear to be driving the cuts to its gaming and video content teams.

• The layoffs are small relative to Apple's 166,000-person workforce, but notable for which teams were targeted.

What Comes Next

Apple has not detailed what the rebuilt, Gemini-powered Siri will actually look like once it ships. Businesses and competitors alike should watch how quickly that partnership produces a visible product change. That will be the real test of whether this restructuring solves Siri's underlying problem.