BEIJING (Reuters) -Sales of foreign-branded smartphones, including Apple Inc's iPhone, in China fell 44.25% year-on-year in October, according to data from a government-affiliated research firm released on Wednesday.

Calculations based on the data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed sales of foreign-branded phones in China decreased to 6.22 million units last month from 11.149 million units a year earlier.

As the largest foreign 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.

Apple released its iPhone 16 models in September, but the widely touted AI feature in Chinese will only be available next year, and Apple has yet to announce an AI partner for the Chinese market.

Overall phone sales in China increased by 1.8% to 29.67 million units in October, CAICT data showed.