China Wireless Technologies – the country’s third-biggest smartphone maker by sales – plans to double its sales target this year, according to Reuters.

The parent of Coolpad smartphone-maker Yulong, China Wireless Technologies – in a company blog – said it aimed to ship 60 million units, including 40 million 4G-enabled phones.

The 2014 sales figure is more than twice the company goal for 2013.

The bold target echoes a similar statement of intent from Xioami, China’s sixth-largest smartphone player, which also plans to double sales this year.

Lei Jun, chairman and co-founder of Xioami, reckons the privately-held firm will sell 40 million handsets in 2014, more than twice the amount last year.

According to figures from IDC, cited by Reuters, China is likely to see overall sales of more than 450 million mobile devices this year, up from around 360 million in 2013.

Third-quarter 2013 figures from Canalys puts Samsung in number one position in China’s smartphone market, commanding a 21 per cent market share.

Lenovo came second in the quarter, followed by Yulong, Huawei and Apple.

The Cupertino giant may well get a boost in China after recently signing an iPhone distribution deal with China Mobile, the country’s largest mobile operator.