After spending billions and plenty of time on two unsuccessful projects, Apple axes 600+ workers
The end of a couple of projects that Apple was working on has led the company to permanently lay off more than 600 employees. We know this because, in California, a law requires a company to give employees and state representatives a 60-days heads up before a mass layoff takes place. Apple recently decided to shutdown its decade long work on creating the self-driving electric Apple Car. Apple is believed to have spent more than $10 billion on the failed initiative.
2,000 employees were working on the Apple Car when the project ended and some of them were sent to work with John Giannandrea and the artificial intelligence team. While some employees were given 90 days to apply for open positions at Apple, several of them do not have any experience working outside of the auto industry. As a result, these workers will have to say goodbye to Apple.
Also last month, Apple decided to halt work on creating in-house microLED displays, another project that the tech giant started, and spent billions on, but was unable to reach the finish line. The plan was to use a microLED display on an upcoming Apple Ultra Watch model and eventually use the displays on the iPhone. The screen delivers brighter and more accurate colors, is more energy efficient, and unlike OLED panels, there is no risk of screen burn-in.
Even though Apple won't be making microLED displays in-house for its devices, it doesn't mean that Apple is giving up on these displays. Instead, Apple will probably look to source them from a supplier. Apple purchased microLED company LuxVue back in 2014 and similar to the Apple Car project, it seems that Apple gave the project about a decade before giving up.
As far back as 2015, Apple was believed to be working on producing microLED displays at a "secret" facility in Taiwan. At that time, the displays were earmarked for the iPhone and about 50 engineers were assigned to the project. We'd imagine that this figure went up as time went on.
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