Smartphone shipments in China picked up speed in February, increasing 35.5 per cent year-on-year to 27.8 million units, defying predictions of an imminent slowdown.

Overall shipments of mobile phones in February jumped 33 per cent year-on-year to 29.6 million units, with the handset market up 6.7 per cent to 76.4 million units in the first two months of 2017, according the latest figures from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

Sino Market Research this week forecast sluggish handset growth over the next two years, with the domestic market tipped to rise 2 per cent and 3 per cent in 2017 and 2018 respectively, C114.net reported.

Smartphones accounted for 94 per cent of domestic mobile phone shipments in February, with nearly 82 per cent Android-based models, the CAICT report said.

Local-brand handset shipments rose 36.7 per cent year-on-year during the month to 26.2 million units, accounting for 88.7 per cent of domestic shipments. For the January-February period shipments by local brands rose 8.4 per cent to 67 million units.