Foxconn cuts 50,000 contract jobs in China - Nikkei

(Reuters) - Apple Inc's biggest iPhone assembler Foxconn Technology Group has let go around 50,000 contract workers in China since October, months earlier than normal, Nikkei reported on Friday.

The scale of the cuts is not necessarily deeper than previous years, it is simply significantly earlier, the report said, citing an industry source familiar with the situation.

"It's quite different this year to ask assembly line workers to leave before the year-end," the source told Nikkei.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, was not immediately available for a comment.

Earlier this month, Nikkei reported that Apple cut current quarter production plan for new iPhones by 10 percent in the face of slowing demand in China, the world's largest smartphone market.

($1 = 6.7746 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru)