Software engineering positions have outnumbered hardware engineering positions in Apple job listings for the first time since at least the first quarter of 2016, according to data-driven website Thinknum.
The website claims Apple's "software and services" job listings have topped its hardware engineering listings since the third quarter of 2018.
Thinknum's Joshua Fruhlinger told us that the data is sourced exclusively from Apple's jobs portal and does not include listings on third-party websites. His website began tracking the listings in the first quarter of 2016, so it's unclear if software job listings have ever topped hardware ones before.
Apple has also been increasing its emphasis on machine learning and Siriunder new AI chief John Giannandrea, with those areas falling under the software engineering category as well.
There are now over 1.4 billion active Apple devices around the world. That saturation coupled with rising prices has led to lower demand for some products. Last quarter, for example, Apple issued its first revenue warning in 16 years due to "fewer iPhone upgrades" than it anticipated.
With hundreds of millions of iPhones now sold, Apple is focused on building out its ecosystem of services and software features surrounding the device, and it obviously needs plenty of software engineers to accomplish that goal.
Monday September 15, 2025 12:00 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Update 10:06 a.m.: iOS 26 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking!
Today's the day! Apple is about to release iOS 26, which will deliver the biggest redesign since iOS 7 and bring a range of new features and improvements to iPhones worldwide. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at last week's iPhone event that...
Sunday September 14, 2025 8:45 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's annual September event is now in the rearview mirror, with the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch SE 3, and AirPods Pro 3 set to launch this Friday, September 19.
As always, there is more to come. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple plans to release many products in the...
Monday September 15, 2025 10:56 am PDT by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26 release notes, Apple is warning iPhone users that installing the new software might have a temporary impact on battery life, which is normal.
A new support document explains that major iOS updates require background setup like indexing data and files for search, downloading new assets, and updating apps.
Further, Apple says that new features could require more resources,...
Friday September 12, 2025 7:58 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 lineup and ultra-thin iPhone Air in stores on Friday, September 19, and the company has already shown off the new devices at its fall event, which ran with the the tagline "Awe dropping."
The iPhone 17 series brings a host of new features and enhancements. Here's a rundown of the biggest upgrades and changes:
iPhone 17
Display Changes
The iPhone...
Monday September 15, 2025 10:50 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released updated firmware for the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods 4, introducing support for the new AirPods features that are included in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe.
The firmware has a build number of 8A356, and it replaces the current 7E93 firmware.
With Apple's new software updates, the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods 4 support better audio quality for phone calls and...
Saturday September 13, 2025 10:01 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The latest iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air models are equipped with Apple's all-new N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. However, the chip has a Wi-Fi 7 bandwidth limitation.
According to FCC documents reviewed by MacRumors, the N1 chip in all of the new iPhone models supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the...
Sunday September 14, 2025 1:36 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
T-Mobile President Jon Freier today shared real-world photos of Apple's boxes for the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 models, which launch on Friday.
Image Credit: Jon Freier
Apple has typically included iPhone box renders in its product environmental reports, but it did not do so for the latest models. However, Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program page does offer some images of the boxes, ...
This is very misleading. People do not work only on software and not hardware, and visa verse. The line between two gets very blurry when you write code for personal devices, or create a device and need to write code to test it in real world use cases.
This is very misleading. People do not work only on software and not hardware, and visa verse. The line between two gets very blurry when you write code for personal devices, or create a device and need to write code to test it in real world use cases.
Generally you're considered a hardware engineer if you write drivers or anything lower. [doublepost=1551460673][/doublepost]
Good. I think their software quality has been a lot less than the hardware quality.
I'd maybe say this if it weren't for the MBP keyboard.
Good! Been using iOS since v1.1 on my 1G iTouch and have to say that for typical user it has gotten a bit complicated and unintuitive. You would be surprised how often people are surprised when I show them the flashlight in Control Center, swipe to backspace in Calculator, 3D Touch shortcuts even. Further, with the A11 and A12 there is plenty of amazing hardware groundwork that needs good software to make the most of it. Cause an iPad is a computer, right?
