It is a very, merry Christmas indeed in China this December and Nokia and HTC have decided to crash the party. The two phone makers are releasing their latest handsets to the Chinese market, touted by experts to outpace the United States soon as the most lucrative place to sell gadgets.

Nokia's treats include the flagship Lumia 920, the mid-level Lumia 820 and the entry-level Lumia 620, which all come with colourful shells and power-packed features. These phones are Windows-powered thanks to the latest mobile operating system from Microsoft - the Windows Phone 8.

According to Engadget, Nokia has started accepting orders for its Lumia phones via China Unicom, which means the handsets that will soon reach the hands of Chinese users will be able to access 3G networks.

An earlier deal by Nokia with China Mobile, the country's biggest telecom firm in terms of coverage reach, ensures subscribers of 4G-LTE access. At least, consumers in that part of the world will have wider choices and pick out the best.

Published price of the Lumia 920 is set at $US736 while the 820 and the 620 are set to retail for $US560 and $US320 respectively. China Unicom has yet to specify when exactly in December will consumers get their Nokia deliveries, Engadget said.

However, the same company is certain that its HTC phone servings will definitely start activation just before Christmas time. The Chinese telco said local customers should start enjoying the HTC Butterfly and two other HTC WP8 phones - the 8X and the 8S.

The Butterfly is popularly known in the U.S. market as the Droid DNA and in Japan as the J-Butterfly. The two identical phones, both Android-powered, have captured the imagination of phone lovers for their sleek design, solid built, rich functions and sheer muscle.

By next week, the Butterfly and the WP8 phones from THC will hit Chinese stores through three telcos - namely China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom - with the Android gadget carrying a likely price tag of $US771. All three service providers offer 4G-LTE connectivity.

As of this writing, HTC and its Chinese partners have yet to release prices for both the 8X and 8S.