NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (Kyodo) -- Global sales of smartphones running Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system grew 4.4 times in the April-June period from a year earlier to 46.77 million units, retaining top spot with a 43.4 percent share of the market, a U.S. research firm said Thursday.
Gartner Inc. said Android's market share surged 26.2 percentage points in the second quarter from a year before, with customers choosing "entry-level and midrange Android smartphones over feature phones."
Sales of smartphones running Apple Inc.'s iOS increased 2.2 times to 19.62 million units, ranking third with a market share of 18.3 percent.
"Google and Apple are the obvious winners in the smartphone ecosystem," Gartner said in a press release, citing "the usability that consumers enjoy, the apps that consumers feel they need, and increasingly a portfolio of services delivered by the platform owner as well."
Symbian OS by Nokia Corp. of Finland came second, with its market share almost halving to 22.1 percent.
Canada's Research In Motion Ltd., which offers BlackBerry services, ranked fourth with a share of 11.7 percent, down from 18.7 percent a year earlier.
Globally, 107.74 million smartphones were sold in the reporting quarter, up 74 percent year-on-year and accounting for 25 percent of overall mobile phone sales, which totaled 428.66 million units, up 16.5 percent.