Country ships almost 24m units in Q3 and pushes the US into second place.
Market researcher Strategy Analytics claims the US shipped 23.3 million units in the three-month period but was beaten by China, which shipped an additional 600,000 devices.
Linda Sui, analyst, Strategy Analytics, said: "Smartphone shipments grew 58 per cent sequentially to reach a record 23.9 million units in China during Q3 2011.
"In contrast, smartphone shipments fell seven per cent sequentially to reach 23.3 million units in the United States. China has overtaken the United States for the first time to become the world's largest smartphone market by volume."
The firm claims this result is down to the Chinese market's low-cost Android models such as ZTE and Huawei, although it's Nokia that leads the market with 28 per cent.
Neil Mawston, executive director, Strategy Analytics, said: "The US remains the world's largest smartphone market by revenue, but China has overtaken the United States in terms of volume.

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