According to a CNET report, Apple supplier Foxconn is planning to temporarily slow down the employee recruitment process in its factories in China; a move which comes at a time when there are apprehensions galore about the long-term demand for the iPhone 5.

The report, citing an email by a Foxconn representative, said that the company had apparently decided to slow down its recruitment for the time being because of "an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past."

Despite the fact that Foxconn has denied that the planned slow down in recruitment was not related to one single customer, implicitly hinting at Apple, a Financial Times (FT) report has revealed that Foxconn is probably planning a more drastic move --- possibly, even a complete hiring freeze.

Attributing Foxconn's recruitment slow down decision to lower than anticipated iPhone 5 orders, the FT report has drawn attention to the fact that, ever since the 2009 recession, it is for the first time that Foxconn is mulling the option of halting recruitment in all of its plants across China.

Even though the reported recruitment slow down move by Foxconn has led to concerns about weakened iPhone 5 demand as well as the supposedly slumping sentiment around Apple in general, Foxconn has asserted that speculations linking its recruitment slow down move with allegedly fewer iPhone 5 orders were "false and inaccurate."