The Workforce AI Index · Technology
Apple (AAPL)
A device maker and retailer by description. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-09-27, filed 2025-10-31. Ranked 8 of the 24 Technology companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing states one full-time equivalent total and nothing else about the workforce, so the manufacturing, retail and software patterns follow its description of how it designs, sells and serves.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 24% now, 45% at the end of 2027, 53% at the end of 2028, 57% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 57% desk work, 23% people work and 20% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 42% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 43% becomes checking a model's work and 11% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
166,000 employees as of 2025-09-27 (full-time equivalent). The filing does not state a count by country in the text read.
The filing: “As of September 27, 2025, the Company had approximately 166,000 full-time equivalent employees.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing | 45% | By (c): the filing states one full-time equivalent total and no split, and describes a company that designs its devices and has them manufactured mostly by outsourcing partners, so its engineering, design and corporate staff are read into the computer equipment manufacturing pattern by description, as BLS counts a maker's own staff. |
| Electronics and Appliance Retailers | 35% | By (c): the filing describes selling through its own retail and online stores without a headcount for them, so a share is read into the electronics retail pattern by description. |
| Software Publishers | 20% | By (c): the services and software businesses the filing describes have no stated headcount, so a share is read into the software publisher pattern by description. |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 166,000 full-time equivalent employees; nothing by function or country is stated in the text read.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL, 97,000 employees)21% now, 58% by 2028
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE, 67,000 employees)21% now, 57% by 2028
- HP Inc. (HPQ, 55,000 employees)20% now, 56% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
6 sentences in the filing name AI. AI appears in the risk factors, as new and emerging technologies including machine learning and artificial intelligence that may exacerbate risks and novel legal claims; the human capital section does not mention it.
- “The introduction of new and complex technologies, such as artificial intelligence features, can increase these and other safety risks, including exposing users to harmful, inaccurate or other negative content and experiences.”
- “This risk may be exacerbated by the use of new and emerging technologies, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, which can involve, among other things, the acquisition and use of copyrighted materials for training as well as the potential reproduction of copyrighted materials in their outputs .”
- “These risks, and the risks of novel claims being attempted, may be exacerbated as new and emerging technologies, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, are further integrated into the Company's products and services.”
- “The Company's global operations are subject to complex and changing laws and regulations worldwide on subjects including antitrust; privacy, data security and data localization; online safety; age verification; consumer protection; advertising, sales, billing and e-commerce; financial services and technology; product liability; intellectual property ownership and infringement; digital platforms...”
- “Risks and costs related to new and changing laws, regulations, executive orders, directives, and enforcement priorities increase as the Company's products and services are introduced into specialized applications, including health and financial services, or as the Company expands the use of technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence features, and must navigate new legal,...”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-27 | 166,000 | 2025-10-31 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-28 | 164,000 | 2024-11-01 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-30 | 161,000 | 2023-11-03 | 10-K |
| 2022-09-24 | 164,000 | 2022-10-28 | 10-K |
| 2021-09-25 | 154,000 | 2021-10-29 | 10-K |
| 2020-09-26 | 147,000 | 2020-10-30 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-28 | 137,000 | 2019-10-31 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-29 | 132,000 | 2018-11-05 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-30 | 123,000 | 2017-11-03 | 10-K |
| 2016-09-24 | 116,000 | 2016-10-26 | 10-K |
| 2015-09-26 | 110,000 | 2015-10-28 | 10-K |
| 2014-09-27 | 92,600 | 2014-10-27 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-28 | 80,300 | 2013-10-30 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-29 | 72,800 | 2012-10-31 | 10-K |
| 2011-09-24 | 60,400 | 2011-10-26 | 10-K |
| 2010-09-25 | 46,600 | 2010-10-27 | 10-K |
| 2009-09-26 | 34,300 | 2009-10-27 | 10-K |
| 2008-09-27 | 32,000 | 2008-11-05 | 10-K |
| 2007-09-29 | 21,600 | 2007-11-15 | 10-K |
| 2006-09-30 | 17,787 | 2006-12-29 | 10-K |
| 2005-09-24 | 14,800 | 2005-12-01 | 10-K |
| 2004-09-25 | 11,695 | 2004-12-03 | 10-K |
| 2003-09-27 | 10,912 | 2003-12-19 | 10-K |
| 2002-09-28 | 10,211 | 2002-12-19 | 10-K |
| 2001-09-29 | 9,603 | 2001-12-21 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-09-30 | 8,568 | 2000-12-14 | 10-K |
| 1999-09-25 | 6,960 | 1999-12-22 | 10-K |
| 1998-09-25 | 6,658 | 1998-12-23 | 10-K405 |
| 1997-09-26 | 8,437 | 1997-12-05 | 10-K |
| 1996-09-27 | 10,896 | 1996-12-19 | 10-K |
| 1995-09-29 | 13,191 | 1995-12-19 | 10-K |
| 1994-09-30 | 11,287 | 1994-12-13 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The headcount is a full-time equivalent count; no split is stated, so all three pattern shares follow the business description (c).
- The U.S. share is not stated in the text read.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000320193-25-000079, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Apple's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 24% now and 53% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Apple's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Apple employ?
- 166,000 as of September 27, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending September 27, 2025 states, in full-time equivalents.
- What kinds of work make up Apple's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 57% desk work, 23% people work and 20% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Apple's annual report say about AI?
- 6 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.