China's 5G phone shipments grow in June

BEIJING -- Shipments of 5G phones reached 17.51 million units in China last month, gaining a larger share of the mobile phone market, the latest data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) shows.

The figure accounted for 61.2 percent of the country's total mobile phone shipments in June, up from 46.3 percent in May.

China saw the roll-out of 105 new 5G models in the first half of the year, with total shipments at 63.6 million units, according to the CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The shipment of 5G mobile phones in the Chinese market has seen explosive growth since the second half of 2019, and the building of 5G base stations is also booming, according to a June report by international consulting firm Deloitte.

As network coverage expands and the price of 5G smartphones drops, China is expected to see the first wave of 5G consumption boom as gadgets powered by the next-generation communication technology become the mainstream, the report said.

China will quicken the development of 5G network construction, with more than 600,000 5G base stations expected to be built nationwide by the end of 2020, according to the MIIT.