Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is ramping up earlier than usual for the next wave of iPhone production, and it looks like device assembly is going to be even more complicated. Workers reportedly need more training to put the smartphone's components together, so hiring started early to meet Apple's expected September launch window.
Foxconn hiring early for iPhone 7 production
Foxconn's hiring spree comes at the same time as Pegatron, another Apple assembly partner, is bringing on more factory workers. The last time they started hiring this early was ahead of the iPhone 6 launch, which also required additional factory worker training because of its new and complex design.
Apple hasn't offered up any hints as to what features the next iPhone model will sport, although CEO Tim Cook said it will come with include enhancements we didn't realize we need, but can't live without. That isn't much to go on, but it does hint at a significant redesign of what's packed inside the iPhone's case.
Rumors claim the iPhone 7 will keep the same look as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S. If that proves to be true, it seems Apple has much bigger plans for what goes inside. So far rumors claim the iPhone 7 will do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack (or keep it), ditch the physical Home button (or keep it), sport inductive charging instead of requiring a cable, move to an OLED display, be water proof and dust proof, improve camera resolution, and move to sapphire glass for the display.
Screen sizes are expected to stay the same at 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches. It may come with a glass body instead of aluminum, and may or may not have a Smart Connector like the iPad Pro.
What we know for sure is that Apple's iPhone manufacturing partners are already beefing up their workforce in anticipation of the new model's production cycle. We also know those employees need additional training because of the new model's complex internal design. That means we'll see something new in the iPhone 7, but until parts information starts leaking, we won't know what those changes include.
Based on the hiring time frame, we can assume Apple plans to stick with its September launch time frame. Apple is expected to show of iOS 10 at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, so we can expect to see the next major operating system upgrade to release about the same time the iPhone 7 hits store shelves.
In other words, Apple is working on a new iPhone to ship this fall, and it's going to include features consumers decide they can't live without—just like every year since the original iPhone shipped.
[Thanks to CNBC for the heads up]