iPhone 5 Launching in October, Not Summer, Says Foxconn Staffer

After a Japanese television studio interviewed a Foxconn recruiter who said the next iPhone would be released this June, another Foxconn employee appears to have spilled the beans on the launch date. However, this time it’s October.

South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper says it has talked to the head of human resources at Foxconn’s recently established Taiyuan factory who reportedly told them: "We just got the order. It [the release] will be around October."

Not that this report should be any more credible than the first, but the October launch has always been more plausible. Last year, Apple broke tradition by releasing its newest iPhone not in Summer, but in Fall at a special even just one day before former CEO, Steve Jobs, passed away.

Reports from The China Morning News and M.I.C. Gadget have revealed this month that Foxconn is almost finished building “a new base for iPhone 5 production” in Taiyuan, the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in Northern China.

The electronics manufacturer Foxconn, which is not only partners with Apple, but other hardware vendors as well, has reportedly put out ads for 18,000 positions on its iPhone assembly line. The reason? Apple’s upcoming handset.

The mass hiring, coupled with the TV Tokyo report quoting a recruiter, spawned widespread belief that Apple was, indeed, returning to the summer refresh cycle.

According to a Japanese translation of the original interview (in Chinese), "it seems it will go on sale in June," the recruiter said in response to a question.

While this is still possible, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference for this year is expected to feature iOS 6 and a new preview of OS X Mountain Lion. In other words, no hardware announcements.

Most analysts still expect Apple to introduce its iPhone 5, or the sixth-generation iPhone sometime in fall.

Posted in: Mobile Phone, Preview