The iPhone 16's eventual announcement is closer than ever, and Foxconn, the company Apple tasks with assembling its smartphones, has hired 50,000 workers to help meet what is likely to be a high demand.
Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant is considered to be where around 80% of iPhone assembly takes place, and August tends to be the busiest month to coincide with the upcoming reveal and launch of the latest models.
Those staggering new employment statistics come from BusinessKorea, which notes that in late July the company offered increased wages to attract more workers for the project, as well as offering bonus increases.
"Late in July this year, Foxconn posted recruitment information on major job sites and social networking services (SNS) platforms, offering an increased hourly wage of up to 25 yuan (approximately 4,800 won)," the report explains.
"Additionally, the Zhengzhou factory has offered bonuses of up to 7,500 yuan, a notable increase from the 6,000 yuan bonus offered a month earlier."
Why it's important
Aside from knowing that the iPhone 16 is being built, this will likely add a little more legitimacy to any manufacturer leaks henceforth.
After all, it's one thing to see an iPhone render or a dummy unit, but given these will be the finished devices (sans packaging, of course), we might get a little more information about features like the rumored Action Button coming to all models, or the new Capture Button.
That doesn't mean anything will leak, nor does it mean that every leak will be proven true, but we're likely to get more glimpses at the next iPhone generation in the weeks to come.
