Microsoft will lay off almost 8,000 staff

Microsoft has announced a fresh round of job cuts, axing nearly 8,000 staff, mostly from its smartphone division.

After hints that the lay-offs were on the way, the tech giant yesterday confirmed it will lay off 7,800 positions in orderto "better focus and align resources".

The losses will primarily be borne by Microsoft's ailing phone hardware arm, purchased from Nokia last year.

In addition to the job cuts, the company will also record an impairment charge of $7.6 billion (4.9 billion) and restructuring charges of between $750 million (488 million) and $850 million (552 million) related to the department.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella outlined the changes in an email to staff.

"We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem including our first-party device family," Nadella said.

"In the near-term, we'll run a more effective and focused phone portfoliowhile retaining capability for long-term reinvention in mobility."

The news comes ahead of thepublic launch of Windows 10on 29 July, marking the company's first major operating system since Windows 8 in 2012.

Windows 10 is set to integrate heavily with Windows 10 for phones, making it unlikely that the company will completely axe its smartphone division.

News of the the cuts follows last year's announcement of18,000 redundancies, alsopredominantly among its newly-acquired Nokia workforce.