The number of smartphone-based mobile internet users in China reached 780 million last year, representing 57 per cent of the population.

The most frequently visited website categories were social networking, search and e-commerce, according to a report by Internet Society of China and the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Centre of China.

Broken down by smartphone brand, iPhones had the largest share of active smartphone users last year with a 16.7 per cent share, followed by Samsung (15.8 per cent), Huawei (15.6 per cent), Xiaomi (14.2 per cent), Vivo (8.66 per cent), Oppo (8.66 per cent), Lenovo (6.9 per cent), Coolpad (4.3 per cent), HTC (3 per cent) and LG (1 per cent), DigiTimes reported.

The report said there were 1.5 million malicious software applications found in 2015, with 99.6 per cent based on the Android OS.

According to GSMA Intelligence, China had 1.3 billion mobile connections last year, with its mobile internet user base (3G and 4G users) expanding 32 per cent year-on-year in 2015 and accounting for 62 per cent of total mobile connections. Nearly 80 per cent of mobile connections are prepaid.