MUMBAI: Being powered with three out of every four smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2012, Google’s Android has emerged as the dominant operating system in the mobile markets with 75 per cent of market share, according to a report by research firm IDC.

Shipments of Android based smartphones made by Samsung, HTC and other vendors nearly doubled in the third quarter reaching 136 million units of the 181 million smartphones shipped. Android's share of the worldwide smartphone market jumped to 75 per cent from 57.5 per cent in the year-ago period. The 91.5 per cent year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 per cent.

IDC research manager for mobile phones Ramon Llamas said, “Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008. In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition. In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators and end-users who have embraced it has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market.”

Apple's iOS system followed at second spot as its market share increased to 14.9 percent with 26.9 million units during the third quarter from 13.8 percent with 17.1 million units.

While BlackBerry attained the third slot, its market share continued to slide at 4.3 per cent as compared to 9.5 per cent in the previous year. Symbian also witnessed a drop in its shares to 2.3 per cent from   14.6 per cent. Rounding off the top five was Windows Mobile with a market share of 2 per cent to 1.2 per cent.

Though mobile versions of Microsoft's software witnessed a drop in market share in the third quarter, the report stated that the recent launch of the Microsoft Phone 8 OS could improve its position in the fast-growing market.