Apple’s next-generation iPhone has just entered production.
A new report from China Business News claims that Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn is hiring a large number of workers to help take care of production for the next-generation iPhone.
The report in question notes that a recruiting firm responsible for Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou, Henan Province has started “large scale” hires for a ramp up to build the new iPhone.
The source revealed that Foxconn has already begun production of the next-generation handset and is currently aiming to fill assembly line positions with mass recruitment.
Currently the plant has about 210,000 workers, which is obviously much less than the 300,000 people the company had employed during peak manufacturing in 2012.
As the seasonal hires continue to file onto the production floor, Foxconn is preparing to enter the mass production phase of the “iPhone 5S,” a handset expected to carry over the design of the iPhone 5 while boasting upgraded internal parts.
Presumably, the new “S” model would be in line with the Apple iPhone hardware update cycle, which delivers design overhauls every other year.
Lastly, the source speculated that the Zhengzhou plant is working on a substantially different iPhone, with a borderless design and an aluminum and carbon fiber shell that will cut the weight by 40% compared to the iPhone 5.
