It has only just been up until now, that the United States has been the world's biggest market for smartphones, but China has taken that flag and firmly planted it into their soil. Nokia is top dog in China, Samsung are a close second, whereas Apple and HTC lead the U.S. markets.

China has for a long time now, had higher cell phone use when compared to the States, given that China has a population of 1.34 billion, compared to the 310 million U.S. citizens, one would think so. Strategy Analytics reports that 23.9 million units were sold in China in Q3 2011, compared to 23.3 million units sold in the U.S. for the same quarter.

Strategy Analytics researcher Tom Kang says:

China's rapid growth has been driven by an increasing availability of smartphones in retail channels, aggressive subsidizing by operators of high-end models like the Apple iPhone, and an emerging wave of low-cost Android models from local Chinese brands such as ZTE.