China has bested the United States of America to now become the world's biggest market for smartphone and tablet devices, a no mean feat since it is by far the world's most populous country.

In a report published on Tuesday, analytics firm San Francisco-based Flurry said that in January 2013 alone, the two top global economic leaders is already in a neck-to-neck race as to the number of active smart devices installed base, 222 million in the U.S. versus 221 million in China.

But Flurry forecasted the Asian country will easily dominate the world market by end February 2013, where China will have already 246 million devices compared to 230 million in the U.S.

And it would take quite sometime before the U.S. gets to retrieve its crown as China will surely be aided with its ever multiplying population. To date,China has over 1.3 billion people compared with the U.S. which has only just over 310 million.

Should China be outstripped from the top seat, Flurry said it would be India which can do this, which has a population of over 1.2 billion. Still, the research firm said this could still take a few years since active smart devices in India only number at 19 million presently.

China ranked among the top 10 fastest growing Android/iOS markets. With a 209 per cent growth increase year-over-year, it is number six in growth rate. Colombia and Vietnam topped the list at 287 and 266 per cent growth, respectively.