Samsung Electronics Co Ltd topped China's smartphone market in 2012, with its sales nearly tripling year-on-year, data from research firm Strategy Analytics showed.

This was the first time that the South Korean smartphone maker topped the list.

Samsung sold more than 30 million smartphones in China last year, up from 10.9 million a year earlier. The company grabbed 17.7 percent of the market share in the country.

The former top seller, Nokia Corp, saw its market share tumble last year, despite a strong demand in the Chinese market.

Ranked as the seventh-largest seller, Nokia's market share dived to 3.7 percent in 2012 from 29.9 percent a year earlier, the report said.