More than 140 million cell phones would be sold in China, up 18 percent from last year, said the study, which was released at an industry symposium in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

Output was increasing as more manufacturers moved their production bases to China, said the report compiled by the Consumer Electronic Industry Research Center of CCID Information Consulting, a company established by the ministry.

The country made 470 million sets of mobile phones last year, almost half of the world's total, and 119 million cell phones were sold in China, with sales hitting 168.1 billion yuan (21.01 billion US dollars).

China had 461 million cell phone subscribers last year, a rise of 17.2 percent from 2005.