Next Apple iPhone to launch in June says Foxconn recruiter

Before we start, head over to your spice rack and take out one grain of salt, because that is what you should be taking this story with. Now you can proceed. After contract manufacturer Foxconn purchased 50% of Sharp's Sakai LCD plant the other day, the company was featured on Tokyo TV's "World Business Satellite" which was discussing problems in the Japanese LCD panel market and attempts by Taiwan and Korean based firms to take advantage of the situation.

During the program, a recruiter for a Foxconn plant in Taiyuan, Chinaappeared and was asked how many people the factory was looking to hire. He responded, "We're looking for 18,000 employees…for the fifth-generation phone." The reporter asked if the number was high because of demand for the iPhone 5. The recruiter answered, "That's right. It will come out in June."

Before everyone gets worked up about the apparent mistake, yes, the fifth generation iPhone is the Apple iPhone 4S. However, the Chinese have been calling the 6th generation model of Apple's smartphone the iPhone 5 which to their way of thinking makes it the 5th generation model. What is a good question though, is how a recruiter, not your typical high-level executive, would find out the launch date of the next Apple iPhone from a company notorious for its secrecy. In addition, other reports have claimed that the next-gen Apple iPhone will be rolled out in September or October of this year.

source: TokyoTV (translated), Macotakara (translated) via AppleInsider