Sales of foreign-branded mobile phones in China, including those of Apple Inc, fell 9.7% year-on-year in May, according to data released by a government-affiliated research company on Friday. Calculations based on the data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed that May shipments of foreign-branded phones in China fell to 4.54 million handsets from the same month last year. As the largest foreign mobile phone maker in China's smartphone-dominated market, Apple's performance plays a significant role in the overall data on foreign-branded phone sales in the country.