Apple has instituted a hiring freeze for the next few quarters, according to a new report.

Although the company slowed hiring over the summer, it hadn’t put an outright stop to bringing new employees onboard. But a new report in Business Insider (based on the always-popular anonymous sources) suggests that “almost all hiring” has paused for the time being.

The hiring freeze could extend to September 2023, which is the end of Apple’s fiscal year. If the Insider report is accurate, it would run counter to recent comments by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who recently told investors that “we’ll continue to hire people and invest in areas, but we are being more deliberate in doing so.”

An Apple spokesperson reiterated Cook’s position. “We are continuing to hire but given the economic environment we're taking a very deliberate approach in some parts of the business,” read the official statement. “We want to be thoughtful and make smart decisions that enable us to continue fueling innovation for the long term.”

Like other Silicon Valley giants that have frozen or slowed hiring, Apple faces something of a conundrum. On one hand, executives want to take a more conservative approach to headcount and budgets in the face of growing economic uncertainty. But on the other, Apple needs to continue hiring great talent if it wants to make necessary inroads into key technology areas, including the cloud and streaming services.

Whether or not it’s “deliberate” about hiring, in other words, Apple will continue to source vital talent. For example, recent reports suggest the company is actively hiring virtual reality (VR) developers who can create games, likely as part of its much-anticipated mixed-reality headset. While rivals such as Meta pour resources into competing projects, Apple simply can’t afford to hold in place—and if you have highly specialized skills in VR, the cloud, or other disciplines, you could have exactly what it needs.