Chinese workers assembling the world's top gadgets have been awarded considerable pay hikes by one of the world's most notorious employer, the Foxconn Technology Group.

In a statement it issued Friday last week, Foxconn, owned and operated by Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision, said that starting February its workers will be paid at least $250 each month, with some getting raise that would reach $400.

The salary jump was estimated to hover at around 25 percent, and according to Reuters will be the third upward pay movement for workers tasked to put together the bestselling Apple products iPhone and iPad.

Foxconn also assembles devices from Dell, HP and Microsoft, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The pay upgrade will mostly benefit the Shenzhen factory's junior level workers, according to Foxconn officials.

"As a top manufacturing company in China, the basic salary of junior workers in all of Foxconn's China factories is already far higher than the minimum wage set by all local governments," Reuters reported the Foxconn statement as saying.

Foxconn also noted that the maximum pay hike can only be availed of if workers will be able to hurdle a required technical examination.

And along with the payment spikes, Foxconn also pledged that "we will provide more training opportunities and learning time, and will continuously enhance technology, efficiency and salary, so as to set a good example for the Chinese manufacturing industry."

Media reports and labour groups have estimated that at least one million workers were employed by Hon Hai on its Foxconn manufacturing compound, which gained public attention in recent years as allegations of labour abuses cropped up.

Critics assailed Apple for looking the other way as its Chinese gadget assemblers maintain what labour advocates termed as virtual sweatshops that employed minor, underpaid and overworked workers.

Deaths via accidents and suicides have marred Foxconn's operations in recent years, prompting Apple to upgrade its regular supply chain audits, which the company claimed has gradually the lot of its contractual workers in China.

As Apple continue to grow, so is the plight of its manufacturing workers continue to deteriorate with every release date of new iPhones and iPads reportedly preceded by punishing work schedules to meet strict production deadlines.

Yet in recent months, Apple vowed to lift the working condition of its Asian workers, which came as Apple collected more than $100 billion in cash reserves, which the company said were mostly realised by record sales of its smartphones and tablet computers achieved in the past year.

In January, Apple joined the U.S.-based Fair Labor Association (FLA) and invited the group to conduct its own independent on Foxconn's facilities.

The group has so far flagged mixed findings, pointing to Foxconn's impressive working environment but allowing for likely significant adjustments in the future, which was highlighted by the 'tonnes of issues' that FLA chief executive Auret van Heerden recently said must be addressed by Apple and Hon Hai managements.

FLA's final assessment will be posted on its official site by early March, according to FLA chief executive Auret van Heerden.