(Telecompaper) Samsung Electronics secured the top spot in the Chinese smartphone market for the first time in 2012 by nearly tripling its sales, reports Yonhap News Agency citing data from Strategy Analytics. Samsung Electronics sold 30.06 million smartphones in China in 2012, up from 10.90 million units a year earlier, garnering a 17.7 percent market share. According to the data, Nokia saw its market share tumble in China in 2012, to 3.7 percent in 2012 from 29.9 percent in 2011, making it the seventh-largest seller. Lenovo ranked number two with a market share of 13.2 percent in 2012, which was up from 4 percent from the previous year. Apple followed with 11 percent, trailed by China's Huawei Technologies with 9.9 percent and Chinese manufacturer Coolpad with 9.7 percent.