Foreign brand smartphone shipments in China, including Apple's iPhone, fell 7.7% in February compared to the same period last year, according to calculations by Reuters based on data released by a government-affiliated research institute on Wednesday.

Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed that shipments of foreign brand handsets in the Chinese market totaled 2.4 million units in February.

The data also indicated that overall mobile phone shipments in China reached 16.8 million units in February, a decline of 14.6% year-on-year.