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Foxconn reportedly hiring workers for next-gen iPhone

A China Business News story says Foxconn has begun large-scale recruitment of workers for the "iPhone 6."

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
Apple

Foxconn has begun recruiting workers for a next-gen iPhone, a Chinese-language report claimed Tuesday.

A recruitment firm that works with a Hon Hai (aka Foxconn) plant in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, has begun large-scale recruitment of workers for production of Apple's next-gen phone, according to a report in China Business News.

Though the report refers to the product as the "iPhone 6," this appears to be guesswork, as there is no indication of a model number confirmation from Foxconn.

A source at the plant noted that Hon Hai currently has 210,000 workers, compared to a peak of 300,000 in 2012, according to an English-language summary provided by BrightWire News.

There are speculative references in the CBN article to a product -- possibly different from the one going into production -- with a "borderless" design, aluminum and carbon fiber shell, and chassis weight 40 percent less than the iPhone 5.

The iPhone 5S, with a physical design similar to the iPhone 5, is expected in the fall timeframe. Presumably, a more radically redesigned iPhone 6 would follow the 5S.