China will pass the United States to become the world's top country for active Android and iOS smartphones and tablets by the end of February, according to US IT research firm Flurry.

In a study that tracked more than 90 percent of the world's smart devices, Flurry found that China added a staggering 150 million new devices from January 2012 to the same period this year, while the US just added 55 million units.

China and the US had roughly the same active smart devices installed base in January 2013, 221 million in China versus 222 million in the US. But Flurry estimated that by the end of February, China will have 246 million devices compared to 230 million in the US.

The consultancy said it believes the US will not take back the lead, given the vast difference in population between the two countries. The only other country that might overtake China is India, but the country still has a long way to go, considering that it only has 19 million active devices now.

The study also showed that the US and China each have more than five times the active installed devices base than that of the United Kingdom, the world's third-largest market. South Korea and Japan ranked fourth and fifth, with 30 million and 29 million smart devices nationwide, respectively.

hewei@chinadaily.com.cn