Foxconn prepares for iPhone 17, Zhengzhou employees can earn up to 22,000 yuan in 3 months
At noon on August 29th, under the scorching sun, buses full of people pulled up one by one at the entrance of the Foxconn Recruitment Center in Longhua, Shenzhen. As the bus doors opened, people on the buses got off one by one and queued up at the entrance gate, waiting to enter. Some were looking down at their phones, while others were standing on tiptoes from time to time, looking forward.
Photo source: Taken by Times Finance
These are all hourly workers recruited through intermediary companies, rushing to start work at the end of the peak employment season. Before that, they were first arranged to gather at the labor service company. After completing the online interview, they were then sent by the intermediary to the Foxconn Recruitment Center for registration. "We just came from Guanlan (Foxconn). The wage here is a bit higher," a young girl in the queue said.
According to the intermediary, currently the department recruiting at the Longhua campus of Foxconn is for the production of tablets and mobile phone back covers. There are two departments recruiting at the Guanlan campus. One of the departments also produces back covers, and the other is for the assembly of Apple mobile phones. Generally speaking, the wage at the Longhua campus is slightly higher than that at the Guanlan campus, with workers able to earn more than 6,000 yuan a month.
"The peak period of Foxconn's recruitment is very short because they can recruit a large number of people quickly," said the above - mentioned intermediary. The peak period of Foxconn is almost over, and now recruitment is limited. For example, the department producing back covers now has 20 recruitment quotas per day, and the department assembling Apple mobile phones only has 10 quotas per day.
In other Foxconn factories, many employees are working overtime intensively. An employee who joined Zhengzhou Foxconn at the beginning of August told Times Finance that "they work overtime every day," and many employees have also shared their overtime routines on social platforms.
As a "heavyweight guest" in the consumer electronics industry, Apple's supply chain experiences peaks in recruitment and production rush around the release of new models every year. Currently, Apple has officially announced that it will hold an autumn press conference at midnight on September 10th Beijing time. At that time, Apple will introduce multiple new products such as the iPhone 17 series. Based on previous years' sales, the industry predicts that the iPhone 17 series will start pre - sales on September 12th.
Different from previous years, uncertainties such as the changeable tariff policies and the slowdown of global demand this year may affect the pricing and sales volume of the iPhone 17. How will the iPhone 17 perform? The market is eagerly awaiting.
Recruitment and Production Rush
"It's very busy now. We're working on (Apple's) new products, which will be released next month," revealed an employee at Zhengzhou Foxconn. During this year's peak recruitment season, about 200,000 people came to the Zhengzhou Airport Area Foxconn factory.
According to an announcement released by the official account "Zhengzhou Fugonglian Recruitment," August 29th was the last day of the recruitment peak for Zhengzhou Foxconn's A Business Group. Starting from August 30th, the wage will drop significantly.
The announcement shows that currently, the recruitment reservation for the ① Business Group in the airport area has been suspended. The remaining two business groups, the iP Business Group on Eighth Street and the iP Business Group in the airport area, are mainly recruiting dispatched workers, divided into three models: high - price hourly workers, short - term hourly workers, and rebate workers.
Taking the iP Business Group on Eighth Street as an example, from August to October, the hourly wage for high - price hourly workers is 26.5 yuan per hour, and the high - price period lasts until October 20th. Starting from October 21st, wages will be calculated according to the same pay for the same work. The hourly wage for pure hourly workers is 24.5 yuan per hour within 75 days, and the high - price period lasts for 75 days. Workers need to leave after 75 days. Under the rebate worker model, the salary during employment consists of "additional rebate (i.e., bonus) + same pay for the same work." The work period does not exceed 5 months. If a worker stays employed for 90 days, an additional rebate of 8,000 yuan will be issued. The normal salary of rebate workers is the same pay for the same work, that is, a basic salary of 2,100 yuan + overtime pay + night - shift subsidy, etc. Calculated based on 260 working hours per month, the monthly salary of high - price hourly workers is 6,890 yuan, that of pure hourly workers is 6,370 yuan, and the estimated take - home pay for rebate workers in 3 months is between 19,000 and 22,000 yuan.
Photo source: Screenshot from the official account of Zhengzhou Fugonglian Recruitment
Times Finance compared the recruitment announcement of "the last day of high - price recruitment" released by Zhengzhou Foxconn last year and found that the hourly wage for high - price hourly workers at the iP factory on Eighth Street was 27 yuan per hour, slightly higher than this year. At the same time, when calculating the total salary, high - price hourly workers were calculated based on 280 working hours per month, with a monthly salary of 7,840 yuan.
In addition, in terms of the rebate worker model, the highest rebate offered during this period last year was 8,500 yuan. Workers could earn up to 22,500 yuan after working for 3 months. According to this year's recruitment announcement, the estimated maximum take - home pay in 3 months is 22,000 yuan.
By the evening of August 30th, the latest announcement of "Zhengzhou Fugonglian Recruitment" stated that only Zhengzhou Foxconn's A Business Group was recruiting dispatched workers. The salary for rebate workers was a rebate of 7,000 yuan + 300 yuan, and the hourly wage for hourly workers was 25 yuan + 1 yuan per hour.
At the Shenzhen Foxconn factory, according to the information released by "Shenzhen Fugonglian Recruitment" on August 29th, only the hourly worker model is available at the Guanlan ID Business Group and the Longhua IDS Business Group in Shenzhen, with hourly wages of 24 yuan and 25 yuan respectively.
However, according to multiple intermediaries, the hourly wage for hourly workers at the Longhua campus of Shenzhen Foxconn was 28 yuan per hour in August, and 26 yuan per hour in September and October. "Personally, I feel that the situation inside the (Foxconn) factory may not be very good this year," a Shenzhen Foxconn intermediary told Times Finance. In previous years, many people could be recruited by running around the Foxconn Recruitment Center, but now it has become much quieter.
In addition to Foxconn, other major Apple supply chain companies have also been intensively "recruiting troops" in the past month. A person familiar with the supply chain revealed that "the internal referral fees of some companies have increased." Times Finance searched the official information release platform of the human resources department of Lens Technology (300433.SZ) and found that this year, after referring a person to work as a front - line production employee at the Liuyang campus and the Langli campus of Lens Technology, the referrer can receive a maximum reward of 6,000 yuan per person.
Photo source: Screenshot from the official account of Lens People
Uncertainties?
According to a research report by Guosen Securities, Apple's supply chain is highly globalized and integrated. It is not only crucial to Apple's own success but also has a profound impact on the global electronics product supply chain. The annual scale of the global supply chain related to iPhone hardware is as high as trillions of RMB, which has a significant impact on the entire Chinese consumer electronics supply chain.
Compared with previous years, one of the uncertain factors for Apple and its supply chain companies this year comes from the direction of tariff policies.
One month before the new product press conference, Apple is working on solving some tariff issues. At the beginning of August, US President Trump announced that Apple would invest an additional $100 billion in the United States, which would bring Apple's total investment commitment in the United States to $600 billion. A research report by Kaiyuan Securities stated that Apple's American Manufacturing Plan (AMP) aims to respond to Trump's policies by bringing more supply chains and advanced manufacturing capabilities back to the United States to avoid punitive tariffs on its core product, the iPhone.
Kaiyuan Securities said that previously, due to market concerns about the slowdown of Apple's AI innovation pace and issues such as "reciprocal tariffs," the valuation of the Apple supply chain sector was at a low level. The 2026 Wind - consensus expected PE of major targets was in the range of 12 - 22 times. With the settlement of tariff issues, Apple's increased AI investment, and the new product launch rhythm, the Apple supply chain is expected to enter a period of valuation repair and upward prosperity in the next few years.
In the recently released investor relations activity records of Luxshare Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (002475.SZ) and Lens Technology, both companies were asked about the impact of tariffs on their businesses.
Luxshare Precision Industry said that from the current situation, the global manufacturing pattern and production capacity layout are relatively stable. Whether it is Vietnam, India, or other Southeast Asian countries, the known tariff policies are basically determined. If large - scale relocation of production capacity is carried out again, it may lead to an increase in manufacturing costs and a mismatch of supply chain resources.
"The degree to which a company is affected by tariff policies needs to be judged by placing it in the corresponding global market area and considering the integrity, leading position, and coverage of its global layout. For Luxshare, we have corresponding production capacity layouts in Southeast Asia, the Americas, Europe, North Africa, etc., covering products and services in multiple fields such as consumer electronics, automobiles, and data centers," Luxshare Precision Industry said. Therefore, they can calmly deal with the impact of tariffs.
The 2024 annual report shows that the sales volume of Luxshare Precision Industry's largest customer accounted for 70.74% of the annual total sales. In response, Luxshare Precision Industry said that with the rapid growth of other customers' businesses, it is expected that the revenue proportion of a single customer will gradually and reasonably decline in the future. At the same time, Luxshare Precision Industry emphasized that this is because the value of the company's other business segments continues to increase, resulting in an optimization of the revenue structure. "Whether it is the largest, the second - largest, or the third - largest customer, they are equally important partners to us."
Lens Technology also said that "changes in tariff policies have no impact on the company's overall operations." The company has long actively cooperated with customers to strengthen the globalization of production capacity and business diversification. It started setting up factories in Vietnam in 2017 and has multiple R & D and production bases at home and abroad, including production bases in Vietnam, Thailand, and Mexico, as well as multiple international offices.
"The Biggest Innovation in History"
"To forge iron, one must be strong oneself." The ultimate performance of the iPhone 17 still depends on the product itself.
According to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC), in the second quarter of this year, in the global smartphone market, the top five manufacturers were Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, vivo, and Transsion. Apple's shipment volume was 46.4 million units, a year - on - year increase of 1.5%. In the Chinese market, the top five manufacturers were Huawei, vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi, and Apple. Apple was the only foreign manufacturer among them, with a shipment volume of 9.6 million units, a year - on - year decrease of 1.3%. IDC said that Apple narrowed the decline through strategic price adjustments, making specific versions of the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro eligible for government subsidies. Its strong double - digit growth in emerging markets offset this decline in the Chinese market, resulting in a year - on - year increase of 1.5% in global shipments in this quarter.
According to reports, the iPhone 17 has undergone "the biggest innovation in history." The iPhone 17 series will include four models: the standard iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the brand - new iPhone 17 Air. The iPhone 17 Air will replace the existing Plus model and become the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever made by Apple.
The most significant change is in the appearance design. On August 30th, the topic "The iPhone 17 Pro is ugly" trended on Weibo. From the exposed pictures, the triple - camera setup on the back of the iPhone 17 has changed from the previous independent square protrusion to a large horizontal matrix camera, with the three cameras arranged in a triangular shape. The flash and LiDAR scanner are integrated on the right side, so it has been joked that it looks like a "power bank."
When Times Finance visited Huaqiangbei recently, it was found that although there is still some time before the official release of the iPhone 17, phone cases for the iPhone 17 series have already been on sale at phone case shops in Huaqiangbei, with the appearance consistent with the reported pictures.
Photo source: Taken by Times Finance
In addition to new models and new appearances, Apple's AI innovation has always been the focus of external attention. A research report by Kaiyuan Securities pointed out that previously, the market was worried that Apple would lag behind other technology giants in the AI era, but recent information shows that Apple is accelerating its catch - up.
Previously, at the earnings conference for the third fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2025 (ending on June 28th), Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple is significantly increasing its investment in AI. Apple is "very open" to acquisitions that can accelerate AI development and is not limited by the scale of the targets. In 2025, Apple has acquired 7 companies (not all in the AI field).
In terms of AI functions, Apple has made good progress in developing a more personalized Siri and is expected to launch these functions in 2026.
According to a report by Huanqiu.com, Apple plans to upgrade the ChatGPT model in Apple Intelligence from GPT - 4o to the newly released GPT - 5 in the iOS 26 and other systems to be released in September. At the same time, it will open the device - side basic model API to developers, allowing third - party applications to call the same end - side AI capabilities as Apple Intelligence without increasing user privacy risks.
According to a report by Cailian Press, Apple may launch a major function in the spring of 2026 that will completely change the way people use iPhones - a brand - new AI voice control system, allowing iPhone users to perform precise operations just by voice.