• Number of Chinese smartphone users surfing the Internet is increasing.

Number of Chinese smartphone users surfing the Internet is increasing. (Photo : Reuters)

Before 2014 ends, China will be making another technological milestone, as the country is forecast to have over half a billion smartphone users, the highest in any country in the world.

The data came from Wang Xingrong, deputy director of the information broadcasting department with the State Internet Information Office (SIIO), which is the country's main agency for regulating the Internet.

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According to Wang, China has approximately 1.3 billion cellphone users as of Dec. 2013, making it the top consumer of the handheld communication gadget in the world.

Following China in the lead are India with over 900 million users, the United States with over 300 million users, Brazil with almost 290 million users and Russia with over 250 million users.

With smartphones becoming cheaper and seen as the fastest way of communication, Chinese are set to go with the trend of using the technology. Forecast says that by year-end 2014, three in every 10 smartphone users in the world will be Chinese.

""More than 40 percent of China's citizens will access the Internet through their cellphones next year," predicted Wang, who was reporting the data at an Internet industry conference in Beijing.

Wang added that in the last two decades, the Internet has widened the potential of markets in China. It has "facilitated new technological advances, products and business models as well as millions of jobs," Wang said.

Beijing-based smartphone analytics provider Umeng discovered that, in 2013, 35 percent of smartphones in use in China cost under $150, with users preferring Samsung and Xiaomi more than other brands.