China’s Foxconn is hiring workers to produce a new version of the iPhone, according to Bloomberg. The news service says that Foxconn has ended a hiring freeze at its Zhengzhou plant and is bringing on new employees to make a new smartphone, probably the iPhone 5S, as well as to make existing models of the iPhone.
Foxconn manufactures Apple iPhones at three plants in China: Zhengzhou, Shenzhen and Taiyua. The Taiyuan plant shut down temporarily a few months ago due to worker unrest. Foxconn has been accused of serious human rights violations at the factories that make iPhones, and Apple has promised more oversight of the Foxconn facilities.
Fresh business from Apple will be welcome for Foxconn, which has seen sales slump this year. According to Taiwan’s Digitimes, March revenue was off 27% versus last year, and first quarter revenue was off 29%.
For Apple, a new iPhone will likely be a booster for sales later this year. Apple’s sales fluctuate significantly with each new product release. The company broke records during the fall with the release of the iPhone 5, after a somewhat disappointing July – September quarter. Now some analysts are expecting another lackluster quarter when Apple reports for the first three months of 2013.
Unlike its archrival Samsung, Apple does not release different smartphone models for different markets — the company has always concentrated on one iconic handset at a time. Multiple smartphone offerings are one of the reasons Samsung has pulled ahead of Apple in market share. This month will see the release of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 as well as HTC’s HTC One, both expected to be true iPhone competitors.
Photo credit: nettechblog.com
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