Apple said on Monday it is cutting jobs across its sales teams to strengthen its customer engagement efforts, noting that only a small number of roles will be impacted by the layoffs.

An Apple spokesperson told Reuters that the company is continuing to hire and the affected employees can apply for new roles.

The impacted employees include account managers serving major businesses, schools and government agencies, according to Bloomberg News, which had reported the news earlier in the day.

Staff who operate Apple's briefing centers for institutional meetings and product demonstrations for prospective customers were also affected, Bloomberg said.

One of the major targets of the layoffs was a government sales team working with agencies, including the U.S. Defense Department and Justice Department, per the report.

The team had already been facing tough conditions after the 43-day government shutdown and cutbacks imposed by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Bloomberg added.

In the past few weeks, companies including Verizon, Synopsys and IBM have announced job cuts.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Apple cuts jobs in latest round of tech layoffs

Reporting by Juby Babu, Stephen Nellis, Reuters / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect