Beijing, Jan 10 (IANS): China produced fewer mobile phones and new mobile phone versions in 2017, industrial data showed.

Mobile phone shipments reached 491 million last year while only 1,054 new types of cellphones were rolled out, down 12.3 per cent and 27.1 per cent respectively, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

Shipments of domestic mobile phone brands fell by 12.4 per cent year-on-year to reach 436 million last year, accounting for about 88.8 per cent of total shipments.

China's mobile phone shipments started to fall last March, with the biggest monthly year-on-year drop of 32.5 per cent in December.

Chinese telecom giant Huawei said its smartphone shipments reached 153 million last year, grabbing a 10 per cent global market share to become the third-largest international smartphone player.

Analysts said that the Chinese smartphone market is expected to see a reshuffle as smartphone consumption slows down with almost all Chinese people owning at least one mobile phone.