The huge number of mobile phone users in China may have surpassed those in the United States last month, but Gartner says those statistics come with clarification.
Last week China's telecommunications regulator, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), said there were 120.6 million subscribers in July.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association said this month wireless subscribers in the US totalled 120.16 million.
Gartner considered 16 per cent of mainland users inactive, which would lower its overall total connections by about 20 million, leaving 101 million, said Bertrand Bidaud, Asia-Pacific director of telecommunications.
The research group assumed only 1 per cent of the US subscriber base could be considered inactive.
MII included some connections in its base, which other telecoms experts might not.