Nov 24 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) 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 ( AAPL ) 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 ( AAPL ) 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 ( SNPS ) and IBM ( IBM ) have announced job cuts.