Apple is reportedly slashing some roles in its corporate retail division in its first known round of job cuts since the current economic downturn began.

The layoffs will impact workers on Apple’s retail development and preservation teams, which oversee construction and upkeep at the iPhone maker’s retail stores, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Monday.

The overall number of layoffs is “likely very small,” according to the outlet. Internally, Apple is reportedly framing the move as an effort to streamline the company’s retail operations rather than a formal round of layoffs.

The impacted employees were informed they should reapply for other roles at Apple or be laid off, Insider reported. The affected roles are said to be based in the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions.

Some management-level employees pushed to reapply could stay with the company as individual contributors and at a lower pay rate, according to Bloomberg.  

Apple had a total of 164,000 employees through last September.

The exact number of roles set to be eliminated as part of the shakeup was not immediately clear.

Apple has so far managed to avoid the sweeping layoffs impacting its Big Tech rivals during a significant downturn in the once-booming sector.

Amazon has announced plans to conduct about 27,000 layoffs this year, while Meta, Google, and Microsoft also confirmed major job cuts.

Apple declined Bloomberg’s request for comment on the cuts. The Post has reached out for further details.

As The Post reported in February, Apple had already begun efforts to cut ties with hundreds of outside contractors – workers that were technically employed by outside firms but who worked alongside its corporate employees.

At the time, sources said the tech giant was opting to fire the contractors outright rather than waiting for their contracts to expire.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also voluntarily took a 40% pay cut this year, with his annual compensation dropping to $49 million in 2023 from $98.7 million the previous year.

Prior to the corporate retail cuts, Apple’s last-known round of layoffs occurred in 2019, when it handed out pink slips to roughly 200 employees working on its self-driving car project.

Earlier this year, Cook described layoffs as a “last resort kind of thing” in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, though he acknowledged “you can never say never.”