China’s smartphone shipments plunged 31 per cent in July amid weak consumer sentiment and the lack of major new releases, according to data from a state-affiliated institute, continuing a downward trend as Covid-19 lockdowns and other control measures dampen local demand. Total domestic smartphone shipments reached 19.1 million units in July, compared to 27.7 million in the same month last year, according to a new report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The latest smartphone shipment number is also below the 21 million units recorded in…