China's cellphone output drops in first seven months

BEIJING -- China's cellphone output fell in the first seven months of this year, official data showed Tuesday.

The country produced 863 million units of cellphones during the January-July period, down 3.6 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Some 665 million units of smartphones were manufactured during the period, down 2.9 percent from a year ago.

In the first seven months, China's exports of cellphones dropped 11.5 percent year-on-year to 470 million units, customs data showed.