I don't recall whether this was ever stated explicitly, but I always had the impression that this is one of the elements of Apple's strategy that is still driven by the tribal memory of the late 1990s turmoil. Both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook were there at the time, and especially the former (who also had witnessed a 1980s bust) was determined to never be in this position again.
So as a consequence:
* Apple is hoarding cash to an extent that business analysts dislike (although Tim has reduced this to some extent)
* Teams are being run leaner than they'd like to be (not nearly as much so as in the pre-iOS times, admittedly)
* Conversely, since the company builds good reserves and not too much bloat in good times, it can and will avoid overreacting to bad times.
So as a consequence:
* Apple is hoarding cash to an extent that business analysts dislike (although Tim has reduced this to some extent)
* Teams are being run leaner than they'd like to be (not nearly as much so as in the pre-iOS times, admittedly)
* Conversely, since the company builds good reserves and not too much bloat in good times, it can and will avoid overreacting to bad times.