A consumer (right) checks out recycled mobile phones at an All Things Renew phone recycling station in Shanghai in October. (PHOTO BY REN YUMING / FOR CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING - China's mobile phone shipments soared 92.8 percent year on year to 40.12 million units last month, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

The figure rebounded from a 12.6 percent decline registered in December last year, said the CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Domestic brands continued to dominate mobile phone shipments in January, hitting 33.73 million units and accounting for 84.1 percent of total shipments

In January, a total of 40 new models were released into the market, up 17.6 percent year on year, according to the CAICT.

Domestic brands continued to dominate mobile phone shipments in January, hitting 33.73 million units and accounting for 84.1 percent of total shipments.

Smartphone shipments came in at 39.57 million units last month, surging 94.3 percent year on year.

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Shipments of 5G phones also reached an all-time monthly high of 27.278 million units in China last month, according to CAICT data.

 The figure accounted for 68 percent of the country's total mobile phone shipments in January, according to the CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

A total of 23 new 5G phone models were rolled out last month -- 57.5 percent of all new models in the country in January, said the CAICT.

China will build more than 600,000 5G base stations in 2021, and the ministry will promote the construction and application of 5G networks in an orderly manner, accelerate 5G coverage in major cities, and advance co-construction and sharing.  

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