With new iPhone expected to be released in September, Foxconn to hire 100,000 factory workers

Apple supplier Foxconn is going on a major hiring spree ahead of the launch of Apple's newest iPhone model later this year.

More than 100,000 workers will be taken on by the world's biggest maker of electronic components in its China-based factories, amid rumours Foxconn has already received orders for the new iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and 6C, according to Taiwanese media. 

The latest iPhone models are expected to be announced on September 9, and released on September 18, according to details leaked by a French telecoms carrier and widely reported. Mid-September also matches previous iPhone release schedules.

To build the new smartphones, Foxconn is already ramping up its assembly lines to take on thousands of new workers at its manufacturing base in Zhengzhou, in central China, where it assembles the majority of the current iPhone models.

The company used to set an age range for workers of between 23 and 40, but this has been relaxed to 18 to 45 since August 3, reports said. Chinese factories have struggled with staff shortages in recent years, amid rising wages and lower migration to the traditional manufacturing bases in the country's south.