A former senior manager at Taiwan's technology giant Foxconn has been indicted for stealing and selling 5,700 iPhones in China to pocket around US$1.56 million (S$2.2 million), Taiwanese prosecutors said Friday.

Foxconn is the world's largest contract electronics maker and assembles products for international brands such as Apple.

The Taiwanese manager worked in the testing department and instructed eight employees at Foxconn's factory in the southern mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen to smuggle out about thousands of iPhone5 and iPhone5s, prosecutors said.

He sold the testing phones, which were supposed to be scrapped, to stores in Shenzhen and made nearly Tw$50 million (S$2.2 million) from 2013 to 2014, said the New Taipei district prosecutor's office.

The former senior manager faces a maximum 10-year jail term according to prosecutors.

Foxconn reported the case to Taiwanese authorities following an internal audit.