A US-based research group has predicted that China could overtake the US this year as the world's largest mobile phone market by revenue, although the US will continue to be the leader in terms of profit.

The Boston, Massachusetts-based Strategy Analytics said in a report that sales of mobile phones in China will increase 15 percent to 430 million units this year due to the country's rapid shift to 3G and 4G smartphones, with revenue expected to reach US $88 billion in 2014.

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In the US, mobile phone sales will be at 163 million units, generating revenue of just US $60 billion, or 4 percent higher from a year ago, Strategy Analytics said in the report.

The rapid rise in China's mobile phone revenue will be very evident this year after both the US and China tallied almost identical revenue last year at around US $57 billion.

China's revenue growth is fanned by the increase in higher-price range segments and decrease in the ultra-low tier market, the research group stated.

However, Strategy Analytics said the US will remain by far the world's leader in the mobile phone market in terms of profit because of the high average selling prices of mobile phones in the United States.

Overall, global mobile handset venues are predicted to increase 13 percent this year, with China, India, Brazil and Russia growing revenues well above the worldwide average. The four countries, said Strategy Analytics, will generate a third of global handset revenue in 2014.

Experts and analysts said the mobile phone market of China will further increase in terms of revenue and could soon overtake the US in terms of profit because of China's 1.38 billion population. The US has a population of 323 million.

TagsChina Mobile Phone Market, China Mobile Market, US Mobile Market, US Mobile Phone Market