According to a new study, China has emerged as the largest market for smartphone devices in the world by overtaking the United Sates in the third quarter.

The study conducted by research firm Strategy Analytics showed that the shipments of smartphones to operators and retailers in China grew 58% to 24 million units in the third quarter, compared to 23 million units delivered to the U. S. market, recording a fall of 7% from the previous quarter.

The demand in China for smartphone devices is strong due to aggressive subsidies offered by operators of expensive models and availability of various affordable options running on the Android platform.

"Smartphone shipments grew 58 percent sequentially to reach a record 23.9 million units in China during Q3 2011," Strategy Analytics analyst Linda Sui said in a statement.

She also noted that the shipments fell 7 percent sequentially to reach 23.3 million units in the United States allowing China to become the largest market by volume. Nokia shipped 6.8 million smartphones to the country and has a leading market share of 28.5 percent of all unit shipments.

Samsung shipped 4.2 million smartphones with 17.6 percent market share while others shipped 12.9 million units to make up 54 percent of the Chinese smartphone market in the quarter.