BEIJING (Reuters) - Apple's smartphone shipments in China rose 39.6% in May from a year earlier, extending a rebound seen in April, data from a research firm affiliated with the Chinese government showed on Friday.

Shipments of foreign-branded phones in China increased by 1.425 million in May to 5.028 million units from 3.603 million a year earlier，calculations based on the data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed.

Although the data did not explicitly mention Apple, the company is the dominant foreign phone maker in China's smartphone-dominated market.

This suggests that the increase in foreign-brand phone shipments can be attributed to Apple's performance.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom)