BEIJING, Nov 27 Reuters Sales of foreignbranded smartphones, including Apple Inc39;s iPhone, in China fell 44.25 yearonyear in October, according to data from a governmentaffiliated research firm released on Wednesday.

Calculations based on the data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology CAICT showed sales of foreignbranded phones in China decreased to 6.22 million units last month from 11.149 million units a year earlier.

As the largest foreign phone maker in China39;s smartphonedominated market, Apple39;s performance plays a significant role in the overall data on foreignbranded phone sales in the country.

Apple released its iPhone 16 models in September, but the widely touted AI feature in Chinese will only be available next year, and Apple has yet to announce an AI partner for the Chinese market.

Overall phone sales in China increased by 1.8 to 29.67 million units in October, CAICT data showed.

Reporting by Ella Cao and Liz Lee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Eileen Soreng

Source Reuters