Bangalore: Taiwanese based electronics manufacturer Foxconn is reportedly increasing its staff in central China in preparation of manufacturing the new iPhone.

According to spokesman Simon Hsing, to meet company’s operational demands, workers are being hired in its Zhengzhou plant and the company has so far added 10,000 new assembly line workers to its iPhone production facility.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the resumption of hiring in Zhengzhou, Apple’s major production facility, indicated the company is gearing up for production of a new device, possibly the iPhone, which also fits perfectly with the anticipated early summer launch of an iPhone 5 successor.

From past observation, the company starts large-scale production 3 or 4 months ahead of the expected product launch.

Earlier, Foxconn had frozen hiring in China due to reduced orders for Apple's iPhone 5, although the company denied such decisions were made based on single customer. Other companies including Amazon and Sony also depend on Foxconn to manufacture some of their devices.

As per early reports Apple is expected to introduce an iPhone 5S-type device and may retain the design elements of the iPhone 5 with hood improvements. A mid-year upgrade for iPhone could make this year the most successful one for Apple in terms of iPhone sales. However, it also depends how well the new device is presented to prospective buyers.