Back in June we heard about a Foxconn riot, which also highlighted the murky working conditions and touched on how Apple workers are treated in China. We’ve seen reports from both sides of this story and the fact that some people find the pay at Foxconn much better than other jobs in China, although considering big brands like HP and Apple see their products assembled at these factories, expectations for the pay and working conditions are set high by western onlookers.

Within the last 24 hours a new video report has been published about Foxconn working conditions in 2012, which can be seen below this article. Part of the popular NYT iEconomy series, the report delivers an updated look at working conditions in a number of factories. This includes Foxconn that seems to be a lot more secretive about the goings-on inside their factories.

The report shows that progress has been made for Apple workers in China and for workers in other factories, although it seems the progress is slow. There have been some major changes over the last year, which includes limiting the amount of hours people can work and raising basic pay. Previously we’ve heard about some people working around 100 hours per week, although under the new rules this will be limited to under 50 hours. Take a look at the video report below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The incident has been described as minor although the reaction after the event seemed to show how displeased some workers are with the conditions they’re facing each day. We touched on these working conditions before, especially considering some of these works are responsible for manufacturing parts of the upcoming iPad 4 and iPhone 5, and it was clear that a lot of workers are happy with their situation and pay, so why do we now see a riot at Foxconn?

It seems there had been a theft somewhere in the factory dormitory, and this resulted in retaliation against security guards that reportedly included well over 1,000 Foxconn employees. The destruction caused during the two-hour riot will cause ripple effects for Apple, which is due to launch a new MacBook Pro and Air, iMac, and Mac Pro within 2012.

Do you think this is just a minor incident that got out of control, or do you feel there are real issues with working conditions at Foxconn?

It’s fair to say that Apple are on the ball with quality in the supply chain – while not every reader will agree with this statement, seeing Apple reject certain suppliers for not meeting standards is a sure sign that they have their eye-on-the-ball. Apple have climbed all the way to the top spot for worldwide technology companies, and having a share price back in 1990 of $35.50 to $584.90 at the start of this month shows the popularity.

Another sign that Apple are keeping an eye on the business – in a recent article by iPhone Rumors they touch on a few signs being seen right now for manufacturing of Apple products, and it’s their view that making an iPhone 5 and iPad 4 is more about politics than anything else. This has been shown with deals that are being made right now between Foxconn and Sharp, and could eventually cause problems for Samsung and their partnership with Apple, which is already rumored to be a highly stressful one.

The article also points out a few facts, this is always good when stating possibilities, and these include Apple running trial manufacturing runs with MSMC for A6 chips, and also Apple taking the supply of DRAM away from Samsung.

We’ve all heard about the courtroom battles between Samsung and Apple, but do you think the ending of contracts between these two brands can be more damaging?

9To5 Mac are reporting that they have been contacted by a reliable source based at Foxconn over in China, who claims that the next version of the iPhone is currently being geared for production. It is being claimed that a variety of sample devices are currently sitting around the factory.

These are said to be slightly different from one to another so it is not known which of them will be the production model. There are some things that are the same though that includes a 4-inch+ display with at least one of them made by LG. None of the devices feature a teardrop form factor though and are longer and wider, as well as being symmetrical in thickness.

The samples also don’t resemble the iPhone 4 or 4S shape either, and none of the devices are final versions. The production for the iPhone 4S didn’t get underway until late spring ahead of the October launch. It seems going on the history of the device with around a five month lead time; Apple may be back on route for its usual WWDC launch in the summer.

The source correctly tipped that the iPhone 5 was not coming last year, and that the company was producing the iPhone 4S instead according to 9To5 Mac. Do you hope the iPhone 5 returns to its usual summer launch?

An article on AppleInsider is reporting that Foxconn Electronics has upped production of the next iPhone to a massive 150,000 units a day. These are expected to hit around six million and will soon start shipments of the device. Industry sources have provided Digitimes with the information as we get closer to the release of the handset.

They are also claiming that some of the devices component suppliers are also at full production. These include maker of the lens Largan Precision, reinforced glass supplier G-Tech Optoelectronics, batteries suppliers Simplo and Dynapack, and TPK Holding makers of the touch panel.

The shipments of the device of 5 to 6 million are expected to total over 22 million during the fourth quarter. Apple is thought to be scaling back shipments of both versions of the still popular iPhone 4 now as well. Pegatron have also received orders for the iPhone 5 but is not expected to ship its 15% share of the device until the beginning of 2012.

Recent speculation is pointing to the iPhone 5 becoming available sometime in October, but there should be an Apple event this month to showcase the device. This is now thought to include a 3G capable iPod Touch. If these production figures are true it will hopefully mean that Apple will have enough units available to meet the obvious high demand the iPhone 5 will bring.

Do you think this time round Apple will have enough units to meet demand?

This is not the first tragedy that has affected Apple’s stock supply; we previously brought you news of Apple’s supply chain shortages being affected by the earthquake in Japan. Today’s tragic news comes from Cult of Mac.

According to the article the explosion took place at 19:10 local time. Details on injuries and the extent of the damage done by the explosion are rare at the moment, though it is reported that six or seven people have been treated by doctors on the scene.

Foxconn is yet to comment on the incident but reports say there are many police cars, ambulances and fire engines at the scene. It is thought that ‘super light dust’ caused the explosion. Check out the article at Cult of Mac by clicking the link above where you will find more details of the explosion.

Do you think this will have a major impact on iPad 2 supplies?

Mark Gurman from 9 to 5 Mac is reporting in an article, that a previously reliable source from Foxconn has provided them with some information about the new handset. The next generation of iPhone is said to be of a similar design to the iPhone 4, except for screen size and materials.

Instead of the current design of a glass back, the next iPhone is thought to be going back to something like the design of the original iPhone. The source has said some models have been seen with a flat metal back. We have already spoken of reports of an aluminum back before, but Apple always seem to pull out some sort of surprise when launching a new product.

The other change is said to be that the handset is going to have a larger display with a 4-inch size talked about again. Sources didn’t give an exact size but said it appeared larger than the iPhone 4 screen. There have been recent images that are alleged to be of the iPhone 5 which seem to back these reports up.

It seems more likely the next iPhone could have an edge to edge screen which has been speculated about before, and the faster A5 chip which is found in the iPad 2 is also thought to be coming as well. As usual this is just speculation, but to see the images use the link above.

However, according to a recent article over on telegraph.co.uk, an iPhone 5 prototype – which was said to have been sourced from Foxconn (Apple’s manufacturing partner) – containing 64GB of storage was recently spotted on a gadget website in China.

The device appears to be almost identical to the Apple iPhone 4, apart from the fact that it contains 64GB of flash memory compared to the current maximum storage of 32GB. More storage is expected to be just one of the incremental improvements that Apple reveal in June.

M.I.C. Gadget – the website that obtained the said prototype – pointed out that the device shares a few superficial quirks with the iPhone 4 prototype that Gizmodo managed to obtain last year. For example, both have “XXGB” written on them, instead of the device’s actual storage capacity.

Besides the increased storage, the iPhone 5 is also rumoured to feature a more powerful processor (possibly dual-core). Do you think we could well see a 64GB version of the iPhone 5 when it’s launched in June?

Reuters are reporting that the owners of the factory in – Shenzhen, China – will pay production line workers 2,000 Yuan a month. This will be on condition they pass a three month performance review. Full details of the process have not been given so far.

This latest pay rise comes on top of the 30 percent rise that was announced last week. The new announcement will take effect by as early as October 1. Workers at the factory will see their wages more than double since the suicides last month, which at the time stood at 900 Yuan a month.

There was a total of ten suicides which led to investigations by Apple and other Foxconn clients. This has lead to Honda offering a 24 percent rise to its workers in one of their factories in the same region of China.

As reported from Huffingon Post, a 23-year-old worker from Gansu in China killed himself by leaping from a dormitory balcony just hours after Foxconn chairman Terry Gou invited media into one of the factories in an attempt to calm the situation down.

It seems as if the problems are getting worse for the company who supplies Apple, as just today, another Foxconn employee attempted to cut his wrists in his dormitory, but survived after receiving medical attention.

The most worrying aspect of this latest attempted suicide, is that the 25 year-old worker had only been at Foxconn for two months. Obviously there is a real issue at hand here – 10 deaths and 3 attempted suicides is clearly not normal behaviour.

Let us know your thoughts on this. What do you think is going on?