Domestic shipments of mobile phones, including personal handy-phone system devices, fell 11.4 percent in July from a year earlier to 3.66 million units due to a decline in mobile- and car-phone shipments, an industrial body said Tuesday.
Burgeoning demand further accelerated in the reporting month for third-generation handsets, which have such capabilities as handling video, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said.
Shipments of 3-G products rose 45.3 percent to 2.84 million units, according to the group.
As many mobile phone users switched to 3-G, shipments of second-generation phones with only Internet and e-mail functions dropped 68.2 percent to 680,000 units, according to the association.
Shipments of personal handy-phone system devices, a stripped-down mobile phone, more than tripled to 148,000 units.