Workers operate production lines in a workshop at Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province. File photo: VCG

With Apple's autumn launch event approaching, contract manufacturer Foxconn is rolling out a large-scale urgent recruitment campaign in China. Since mid-August, Foxconn's core plants in Zhengzhou, Shenzhen, Nanning and other cities have successively started emergency hiring, to meet production capacity for the Apple iPhone 18 Pro series as well as the company's first foldable phone (expected to be named iPhone Ultra after launch), according to media reports. 

Foxconn's Nanning High-tech plant, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is urgently seeking 309 workers for positions including equipment maintenance engineers, mechanical engineers and production workers. Equipment maintenance engineers can earn up to 12,000 yuan ($1,785) per month, according to a release on the official WeChat account of the Nanning Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau on Thursday. 

Zhengzhou in Central China's Henan Province is one of the Foxconn plants with the largest recruitment effort this time. A recruitment staffer at Zhengzhou Foxconn said that the return bonus for employees who complete three months reaches 7,800 yuan, while the hourly wage for temporary workers is 28 yuan, according to a report by Hongxing Zibenju, a new-media brand under Chengdu Economic Daily, on Thursday.

Both figures are higher than those in the July recruitment notice, which offered a 6,000-yuan return bonus and 26 yuan per hour, the staffer said, also revealing that the current drive covers assembly, quality inspection and other positions, with a substantial expansion in hiring. 

A recruitment supervisor at Foxconn's Shenzhen plant in South China's Guangdong Province said on Thursday that Apple's new products are about to launch and the factory is in its peak hiring season, Hongxing Zibenju reported.

A recruitment post shared by another staff member of the Shenzhen Foxconn  showed that the hourly wage for temporary workers has risen from 25 yuan in July to 26 yuan today.

In addition, some other plants are offering extra incentives for employees who are on duty early. According to tech media MacObserver, workers who start on or after August 14 can receive an additional 500-yuan bonus on top of the basic bonus.

Although the total bonuses are substantial, a comparison showed that this year's incentive levels are slightly lower than those in the same period last year. According to media reports, during the iPhone 17 mass-production season in August 2025, the maximum return bonus for veteran workers at Zhengzhou Foxconn reached 8,000 yuan, with the August peak once hitting 9,600-9,800 yuan.

Multiple media outlets reported that Apple is expected to hold its autumn special event in early September. Notably, this year, Apple will break its nearly 20-year tradition of launching the full lineup at once. 

It is expected that Apple will only release three high-end models - the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Apple's first foldable iPhone, which could be named iPhone Fold or iPhone Ultra - while the standard iPhone 18 may not arrive until early 2027. This will be the first iPhone launch event hosted by Apple's new CEO John Ternus, according to media reports. 

Global Times