Sharp, Japan’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, is to launch in China in a bid to counter declining domestic sales, reports Bloomberg. The company said it will begin selling its SH9010C handset – a variation of the 920SH model currently offered by Softbank Mobile in Japan – later this month, targeting affluent Chinese customers. Sharp disclosed no further details of the launch but a report in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper said the handset would be sold via Dixintong, China’s largest handset retailer, and will cost around 4,550 yuan (US$659).

According to Bloomberg, citing figures from Japan’s Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, Sharp’s domestic mobile phone shipments in April fell 23.3 percent from a year earlier, marking a third straight month of year-on-year declines. However, the vendor also announced this week that it had had some success with its One-Seg-compatible digital broadcasting handsets in Japan, having shipped over 10 million of the devices in the two years since launch. Sharp announced earlier in the year that it was planning to enter the fast-growing Chinese handset market ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.