IDC reported that during quarter two of this year the 44 million smartphone shipments accounted for 51 percent of China's total mobile imports of 87 million - meaning that, for the first time, smartphones outsold standard feature phones in China.

China is set to overtake the US as the world's biggest smartphone market this year, with demand "driven by generous handset subsidies offered by the three main carriers, increasingly tech-savvy consumers and more feature-packed and affordable products," says .

Android phone maker Samsung, behind the phenomenally successful Galaxy S3 smartphone, retained its number-one position in China. Its share did, however, dip from 21 percent to 19 percent. See:

Local Chinese brands Lenovo and ZTE pushed Apple to fourth place from second, said IDC. Another Chinese mobile maker Huawei Technologies, which sells its G330D smartphone, came in fifth (down from third).

LePhone maker Lenovo - and the world's second-largest maker of personal computers behind HP - jumped from seventh to second place with 11 percent share.