Workers at a production workshop of Foxconn's technology park in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province on July 24, 2021. The park is a major global smartphone manufacturing base. Photo: VCG

The world's largest iPhone factory, operated by Foxconn Technology Group in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, has been recruiting early for the peak summer months, cranking up incentives for new hires, offering as much as 10,000 yuan ($1,479.86) in onboarding bonuses, as the company is reportedly preparing for the mass-production of the iPhone 14 series.

According to a recruitment notice published on the Foxconn's Zhengzhou iDPBG WeChat account on Saturday, the company will offer as much as 10,000 yuan per person in incentives starting from Sunday, encouraging candidates to seize the chance since "you will wait for another year if you miss it this week."

Bonuses for referrals can be as much as 500 yuan per person, with the bonus for job seekers based on different positions. The bonus for key positions in the manufacturing department goes as high as 9,000 to 9,500 yuan per person, according to the notice.

In June, the Zhengzhou plant launched a recruitment campaign called "Phoenix comes home," encouraging technology workers who left in 2019-2021 to rejoin the company. Those employees, should they be open to returning, will be offered the same position as before and receive the same pay, while being allowed a maximum of 5,400 yuan in allowances. 

The company is also recruiting internships targeting college graduates in 2021 and 2022, according to another job post published in June. 

The Zhengzhou IDPBG group is a major section for the production of Apple's iPhones. The Zhengzhou plant is also the main manufacturing base for Foxconn to produce iPhones, with more than 90 production lines and about 350,000 workers.

Apple announced that the iPhone 14 series had started trial production and is set to enter mass production from August. The tech giant has informed suppliers that it expected that iPhone 14's initial sales after hitting market is expected to be higher than the iPhone 13 series, according to a report from China Securities Journal, citing a research report from the Cinda International.

The China Securities report said that apart from Zhengzhou, Foxconn's factory in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, has also stepped up hiring for the iPhone 14 . Citing person familiar with the matter, the report said the internal referral bonus is 5,280 yuan per person, of which the referrals can receive 1,200 yuan and recruits can receive up to 4,080 yuan.

Apple posted record revenue of $97.3 billion for its fiscal 2022 second quarter ending March 26, while its services revenue reached a new all-time high, the company said on April 28.