FIH offers more wage for Huawei handsets than iPhones

HONG KONG: Taiwanese giant Foxconn is offering higher hourly pay for workers who make Huawei smartphones in China than those who are busy making the latest iPhones, the media reported on Friday.

Foxconn’s FIH unit, which makes Huawei smartphones, was offering a 26 yuan ($3.60) hourly rate for new workers at its factory in Shenzhen, a media report said, citing recruitment agents.

This is higher than the hourly rate of 21 yuan offered at Foxconn’s integrated Digital Product Business Group (iDPBG), which makes iPhones, the report claimed.

A recruitment agent was quoted as saying that the “new hires will know what phone they are making after the factory allocates them to different teams based on current demand, but these days they have a higher chance of making handsets for Huawei”. Foxconn did not immediately comment on the report.

Both Apple and Huawei have launched their flagship 5G handsets in China which is the world’s biggest smartphone market.

Although China remains its most important production centre, Apple has been diversifying its supply chain amid rising geopolitical tensions, said the report.

The tech giant will sell ‘Make in India’ iPhone 15 on the global sales day (September 22) for the first time.

Meanwhile, Foxconn, which is the largest iPhone maker, had ramped up hiring in China ahead of Apple’s launch of iPhone 15 series earlier this week.

Foxconn’s major plant in Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan province, is offering $880 as bonuses per person at the company’s Product Enclosure Business Group, responsible for producing mechanical parts for the iPhone.

The world’s largest iPhone factory is “continuing to expand its workforce ahead of the release of the iPhone 15, with Apple hoping to avoid last year’s supply chain woes at the plant in China,” the report said.

Foxconn offered larger bonuses to returning workers in June this year following a worker exodus and production disruptions.