China is approaching the US as the world’s biggest smartphone market after shipments grew by 160 percent in the third quarter of the year. According to technology market research company Canalys, 23.2 million smartphones were shipped during the period, just 200,000 fewer than in the US. Nokia retained its smartphone shipment lead in China but saw its share decline dramatically from 75 percent in Q3 2010 to 28 percent in Q3 2011, while Apple and Samsung saw Chinese year-on-year growth of 710 percent and 805 percent respectively. Canalys research director for China, Nicole Peng, said Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE are also contributing to the smartphone market growth with a range of good-quality Android devices.