Even without availability on China Mobile, China’s largest mobile provider, the iPhone’s market share in China has grown form 9.9 percent a year ago to 17.3% in the June quarter, Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf said in a note to clients, as reported by “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com).

Needham & Company’s quarterly report on the smartphone industry was issued today and identified the “big news” of the quarter as the emergence of China as the leading smartphone market. Smartphone shipments in China grew 164% year-over-year to 33.1 million units in the June quarter, topping the 25 million units sold in the U.S.

Among mobile operating systems, Apple’s iOS took a 17.3% share according to data from Gartner. Much of its growth from 9.9% a year ago stems from the launch of the iPhone on China Telecom this year.