Workers at a production workshop of Foxconn's technology park in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province on September 4, 2021. The park is a major global smartphone manufacturing base. Photo: VCG

Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory in Central China's Henan Province, the world's largest iPhone assembler, has been ramping up hiring in recent days, which industry observers said may indicate that the main Apple supplier "could already have received bulk order" for Apple's newest handset iPhone 14 series - whose release is expected to be announced around September. 

According to a post on the WeChat account of Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant, its iDPBG group - a major section for the production of iPhones - is launching a recruitment campaign called "Phoenix comes home," encouraging technology workers who left in 2019-2021 to rejoin the company. 

Those employees, once returned, will take the same position as before and receive the same payment, while being rewarded a maximum of 5,400 yuan ($807) in allowances. The company is also recruiting internships targeting college graduates in 2021 and 2022, according to another job post. Foxconn workers who make successful recommendations for intern positions could receive a total of 6,000 yuan as bonus. 

A recruitment manager with the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou told the Global Times on Monday that they are offering 8,500 yuan as a one-off bonus for candidates who work up to 90 days as a stimulus measure. The bonus is significantly higher than the 5,500-yuan reward package offered in May. 

Foxconn's Shenzhen plant in South China's Guangdong Province is also recruiting ordinary workers with one-time bonus of 7,000 yuan for those who work up to 90 days, which is also a relatively high amount. These workers will be responsible for making screens for mobiles including the iPhone, the Global Times learned.

A person close to the recruitment office of Foxconn's Shenzhen plant told the Global Times on Monday they are looking for student workers aged between 18-23, with promised payment of 19 yuan an hour, but the compensation could be up as high as 23 yuan if they come in a group. The student workers will work at the factory until August.

Foxconn's mass recruitment comes two months ahead of Apple's fall launch events, which generally take place in September every year when the US tech firm launches its latest iPhone devices, including its next high-end iPhone series. Large-scale delivery of iPhones usually come at the end of the year.

"The hiring is preparation for mass manufacturing of Apple's devices, and it is highly likely that the new device could be the iPhone 14. Manufacturing and electronic industries this year hold a very cautious attitude in recruitment, so Foxconn's high-profile move, a little bit abnormal, indicates it could have received iPhone orders in advance. The volume could be huge," Li Yi, a senior research fellow at the Internet Research Center of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

Chinese news website tech.sina.com reported the hiring paves way for large-scale production of iPhone 14 smartphones, which will begin in August at the earliest.  

But Li warned that delayed recovery in the world's second-largest economy from coronavirus flare-ups, plus a complicated international situation, could weigh on Chinese consumers' willingness to spend on a new tech gadget.

"Could the new iPhone be a market hit? It depends on the level of innovation it brings to the market," Li said.

Sales of iPhones in China have seen a strong rebound after the epidemic situation eased.