Nation leads in smartphone penetration

China now has the world's highest penetration rate for smartphones, according to a report released by the Global System for Mobile Communications Alliance.

The new study, which serves as a prelude for the Mobile World Congress Shanghai which begins on Wednesday, shows that smartphone adoption in China reached 62 percent during the first three months of this year, against Europe's 55 percent on average.

The alliance said the number of unique mobile subscribers, which can account for multiple mobile connections, reached 632 million by the end of March, accounting for 48 percent of the population.