Google’s Android operating system is now officially the number one platform, extending its lead over Apple’s iOS.

Whether this lead continues after the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, remains to be seen; however, with 64.1% of the market now using Android compared to just 43.4% a year ago, this is highly likely.

Analysts believe that Android’s success is in part due to the demise of Nokia’s Symbian platform, plus the rather lacklustre take up of Microsoft’s own Windows Phone software.

Ironically, while Android seems to dominate the market, Apple has increased into own market share, albeit only slightly from 18.2% to 18.8%. Again this figure could rise dramatically once Apple finally releases the iPhone 5.

In the meantime, the rivalry between Apple and other Android smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung continues. In fact, according to one expert, Anshul Gupta, both companies are dominating the smartphone market. He said: “Samsung and Apple continued to dominate the smartphone market, together taking about half the market share, and widening the gap to other manufacturers.”

Mr Gupta added: “No other smartphone vendors had [a] share close to 10%.”

Mr Gupta did suggest, however,  that because of the current economic climate consumers are tending to wait for new releases before deciding what to do. He continued: “The challenging economic environment and users postponing upgrades to take advantage of high-profile device launches and promotions available later in the year slowed demand across markets.”