AbstractTaking advantage of information communication technology, a smart city is a city that has its critical urban infrastructure upgraded to optimise resources allocation and maintenance activities. It serves as a new technology‐based solution to mitigate urban diseases and to improve urban development in China. However, unbalanced and uncoordinated smart city development potential (SCDP) would impede the future construction of the smart city. Consequently, this study aims to measure SCDP and further examine the equality of its spatial distribution in China. In this regard, a brand‐new hybrid multiple attribute decision‐making (MADM) model is proposed to evaluate SCDP. Subsequently, a series of spatial analyses are introduced to uncover the spatial differentiation of SCDP. The results suggest that (a) overall SCDP in China has a continuous upward tendency, and the SCDP compositions of six subsystems contribute variously; (b) over time high‐SCDP cities agglomerated in the east, whereas most of the low‐SCDP cities clustered in the west. This feature indicates that SCDP in China is unevenly distributed; (c) high‐SCDP cities preferred to cooperate in coordinated efforts rather than develop independently. This study makes new contributions to smart city development research in terms of methodology and empirical evidence.