Foxconn to Begin 4.7″ iPhone 6 Production Next Week, 5.5″ Model in Mid-August: Reuters

If local media reports in Taiwan by the Economic Daily are true, Apple supplier Foxconn is said to start 4.7-inch iPhone 6 production during the third week of July, while the larger 5.5-inch model is said to start later in mid-August, reports Reuters.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronic goods, will begin mass production of Apple Inc’s next-generation iPhone this month, local media reported Friday.

Mass production of a 4.7-inch successor to the wildly popular iPhone 5 series of smartphones will begin during the third week of July, Taiwan’s Economic Daily News said, without citing sources. Production of a 5.5-inch version will begin during the second week of August, it said.

In a different report issued by China’s state-run news service, Foxconn’s parent company, Hon Hai, is said to hire 100,000 employees to help meet future iPhone 6 demand at its mainland factories, according comments made by the head of the Henan Provincial Commerce Department, corroborating a similar report last month.

Taiwan-based Pegatron was also said to also begin hiring of 10,000 workers to help manufacture the iPhone 6, reported the Economic Daily News. Back in March, Taiwanese media also cited Pegatron was preparing its staff hirings for iPhone 6 production, and it appears this is coming to fruition.

Back in June, Bloomberg reported two iPhone 6 models would start production in July in preparation for a September launch.

However, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s recent research note claimed the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 could be delayed to either November or possibly 2015, apparently related to production issues involving the device’s in-cell touch panel.

Regardless of who’s correct, it appears an iPhone 6 launch is imminent this fall, so get your wallets ready.

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