Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology Group, or Foxconn, - Apple's main iPhone maker - has canceled the Mid Autumn national holiday week for its employees and is operating around the clock on Apple's new iPhone 12, reports say.

A Foxconn representative denied it had rescinded the important China holiday. However, sources among employees and recruitment advertisements said the company was paying bonuses at its Zhengzhou plant to ramp up manufacturing during the eight-day holiday. 

An Insensitive Incentive

According to sources in Zhengzhou, Foxconn workers starting employment at its iPhone assembly plant before Sept. 18 and still employed three months later can receive an incentive of 10,000 yuan ($1,473). Those recruited after Sept. 26 will get 8,500 yuan in bonuses. The company promised to pay these bonuses upon the completion of the iPhone 12 manufacturing run.

The work period is optional. Several employees at the Zhengzhou plant said they were willing to work overtime during this holiday to earn the triple salary.

Dubbed Apple's "iPhone City," Zhengzhou Foxconn is the largest iPhone factory in the world with a 1.4 million square meter layout. It is said to produce 90% of the world's iPhones. 

Most production facilities were closed down during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each employee who returned to work at Zhengzhou Foxconn in February was paid a 3,000-yuan bonus. 

Willing To Overwork

The pace of the iPhone 12 assembly line left most Foxconn workers with four days off each month only. Sources told the South China Morning Post that "if you work at the factory for more than 90 days there's a handsome amount of special pay" and the company had started night shifts, too.

In June, Foxconn's Zhengzhou unit saw exports rise 50.6% year on year with more than 200,000 staff having resumed work, according to Henan Daily.

Among the 100 million smartphones the Zhengzhou plant manufactured in the first half of this year, 34 million were iPhones. Meanwhile, the plant signed 19 new contracts related to manufacturing smartphones.

Paying More To Save Money

Since manufacturing smartphones is seasonal, phone manufacturers prefer to recruit a short-term flexible workforce and pay incentives for overtime to existing employees rather than hire long-term staff. This allows for overall reductions in human resource costs, analysts said.

In June 2019, Apple started sample testing the iPhone 12 and was supposed to enter the Engineering Validation Test stage in February. The virus delayed the progress.

According to staff working on the Foxconn assembly line, Apple's upcoming iPhone 12 won't include a high-refresh ProMotion display while most Android phones are equipped with high-refresh screens ranging from 90Hz to 120Hz. The smooth response of high-refresh screens can add to the user experience and make gaming more enjoyable, experts say.

Analysts said, in a cost-cutting measure, Apple would keep iPhones at the traditional 60Hz for another year.