During the first seven months of this year, China has produced 620 million mobile phones, which represents mild 3.4 percent growth in comparison to the same period last year, according to China. Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

China’s production of telecom equipment in general has grown a bit more, though, up 17.6 percent this year to reach a total value of 683 billion yuan ($108 billion). Exported equipment accounts for more than fifty percent of that at 354 billion yuan ($56 billion), up 21.8 percent compared to the same period last year.

The country produced 1.13 billion mobiles last year, which accounted for more than seventy percent of global production, and it looks on pace to hit or exceed that number this year.

Why mobile phone production growth is relatively slow when compared to the growth seen in the greater telecommunications equipment industry may be explained by the shift to smartphones, C. Custer wore in TechinAsia.