On July 19, the China Internet Network Information Center released its 30th China Internet Development Statistics Report which shows that by June 2012 in China the number of people online had reached 538 million. Internet penetration was 39.9 percent of the whole population and the number of users using smartphones to access the Internet has already reached 338 million. Smartphones have already beaten desktop computers as the first choice of Internet access for Chinese.

China's online population is equal to the combined populations of the US and Brazil, according to Xinhua News Agency.