An Apple store in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Photo: IC

 
With Apple's upcoming launch event, Foxconn — the world's largest electronics manufacturer and a key iPhone assembler — has entered peak production season, according to multiple media reports.

News portal eeo.com.cn reported on Tuesday that the Longhua plant of Foxconn in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, is now recruiting new workers. 

The report said that in addition to Foxconn, other Apple supply chain giants have also been actively recruiting lately, while some companies have increased their internal recommendation fees.

A report by Henan Daily on August 18 described long queues outside the Zhengzhou recruitment center. Fang Siming, a human resources official at the Zhengzhou plant, noted that since the fourth week of July, the center has been processing thousands of job applications each day, which is expected to last through October.

The current hiring focus at the Zhengzhou plant is entry-level positions such as product assembly and quality inspection. The company offers both long-term and short-term flexible employment options, with monthly compensation for those jobs ranging from 5,000 to 7,000 yuan per month.

Fang added that, compared to last year, the workforce has expanded and employee benefits have improved significantly. More than 80 percent of new hires are between the ages of 18 and 35, and over 95 percent are local workers from Henan Province.

As a major player in the consumer electronics sector, Apple's supply chain sees a seasonal spike in recruitment and production activity around the time of its annual iPhone release.

Apple has announced that its autumn launch date is September 9, when the company is expected to introduce several new products, including the iPhone 17 series.

For the fall event, Reuters reported that Apple will unveil a slimmer version of its latest iPhone, possibly branded as the iPhone Air, echoing its iPad Air and MacBook Air lines, citing media reports.

The company is expected to showcase new entry-level, high-end Apple Watches, upgraded iPad Pros and a faster version of the Vision Pro headset, Bloomberg News has reported recently.

According to data from industry analyst IDC, the top five smartphone vendors globally in the second quarter of this year were Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, vivo, and Transsion. Apple shipped 46.4 million units during the period, marking a 1.5 percent year-on-year increase.

In the Chinese market, the top five manufacturers were Huawei, vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi, and Apple. Apple was the only foreign manufacturer, with shipments of 9.6 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 1.3 percent. 

IDC said that Apple narrowed its sales decline through "strategic price adjustments," making specific iPhone 16 and 16 Pro versions eligible for government subsidies. Its strong double-digit growth in other emerging markets offset its sales decline in China, and ultimately global shipments increased by 1.5 percent year-on-year in the quarter.

Global Times