Hon Hai Worker Commits Suicide as Vietnam Leaks New iPhone Prototype

A suicide report issued by Business Week today is likely not tied to the latest missing iPhone prototype, yet news of a worker at Hon Hai Group killing herself comes extremely close to the unveiling of another such device. Hon Hai Group, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, confirmed that an employee died yesterday after jumping from her apartment building in Shenzhen, China. The company was faced with such bad press in the past, when an employee reportedly killed himself over a missing iPhone prototype.

The worker in question was identified only by the surname Zhu. She was actually on holiday, the paper notes, according to Hon Hai, which said that the suicide was related to personal matters, citing information from the local police investigating the matter.

This is not the first time Hon Hai makes headlines containing the term “suicide” in them. In fact, the death of the 24-year-old assembly line worker makes the sixth such case at Hon Hai this year alone, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency. The company, which provides parts for Apple’s iPhones, earlier suspended one of its security team members, after a worker killed himself when an iPhone prototype went missing. It should be noted, however, that Hon Hai also makes electronics for other computer vendors, including Hewlett-Packard Co.

As suggested earlier, the news may induce a feeling of deja-vu for those who’ve heard the story of a Hon Hai employee killing himself over a missing iPhone prototype. Softpedia reported earlier today that a Vietnamese source posted images and a video of a prototype Apple handset, the second such leak this month. Since the phone was actually spotted in Vietnam, it may be hard to tie the two pieces of news to one another.

The device is slightly different (from an architectural standpoint) compared with the one leaked to Gizmodo a few weeks back. For example, this prototype unit is missing two screws on the right and left sides of the dock connector, a particularity that suggests this is a newer model, therefore closer to the actual retail version.