Apple (News - Alert) is seeking to increase its production capabilities overseas, and is hiring with fervor. With the Galaxy S V just recently announced, the Galaxy Note III having just been released, and the HTC (News - Alert) One “2” coming soon, the cycle for smartphones is getting shorter and shorter. In order to keep up with demand, Apple will have to ramp up it’s ability to churn out devices more often, and at a faster rate. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is hiring hundreds of new engineers for their Chinese and Taiwanese production points.

The smartphone climate has been changing in the last few years to create a demand for more devices more often. Samsung and HTC are among the companies setting the trend of having multiple flagship products instead of just one. Apple must respond to this if they want to stay relevant and competitive in today’s market. Apple said in a recruiting email, “Apple is building an engineering team in Taipei to drive new iPhone product development.” The evidence that Apple is attempting to adjust to the new demands was seen last year when for the first time Apple released two iPhone (News - Alert) models at one time with the iPhone 5S and 5C.

Reports are circulating that Apple is even hiring engineers away from HTC, sparing no expense to grow an experienced team in their key Asian production zones including Shanghai and Taipei However the production is not the only angle that the smartphone giant is focusing on. In December of 2013 China Mobile (News - Alert), the world’s largest mobile carrier announced that after much anticipation, it would begin to carry Apple’s iPhone and offer it to its 760 million subscribers. As was expected by analysts and hoped for by Apple, the iPhone 5S broke sales records in China.

Should Apple be able to increase its production rate, it’s possible that they may be able to use multiple device releases to recover market share that has been lost in the last year. Along with ramped up production will come the continued release of more tablets from Apple, such as the recent iPad Air. Recently tablet market share was dominated by Android (News - Alert) and not iOS. Android tablets accounted for 61.9 percent of the market share in 2013, up from 45.8 percent in 2012.

Wal-Mart just recently began slashing prices on their smartphones, including iPhones and Samsung phones. This is likely an indication that Apple will release new devices in the Spring and not the Fall, a result of their production efforts, and Apple will feel the pressure to impress. Whether it be by releasing phones with both larger and standard screens, or releasing tablets and phones simultaneously, Apple will have to keep up with the rest of it’s competitors.