Apple suppliers Pegatron and Foxconn ramp up hiring

Two companies that assemble Apple’s iPhones and iPads are on a hiring spree, a signal that orders from Apple are ramping up ahead of the launch of a new device.

Taiwan’s Pegatron Corp, which employs 100,000 people, said on Monday that it is expanding its workforce in mainland China by 30 per cent to keep up with the production of smartphones. Meanwhile Foxconn, the main manufacturer of Apple products, is reportedly recruiting 100,000 new workers, according to a report in Taiwan’s Economic Daily News. Apple is widely expected to launch the sixth generation of its iPhone in the third quarter of this year, which will feature a larger screen. It is also working on a health-tracking iWatch, and recently introduced HealthKit, a platform for uniting health and fitness data from a variety of apps and devices, in the latest version of its iOS operating system.