Google's Android edged past Apple by handset sales in Q2 to become the world’s third most popular smartphone OS.
Android powered 17.2% of the 61.6 million smartphone devices shipped to end-users during the quarter, research firm Gartner said.
This compares to 14.2% for Apple OS devices, 18.2% for RIM phones and 41.2% for Symbian.
While Android's share has exploded from its 2Q09 market share of just 1.8%, Symbian's share shrank from 51% over the same period.
BlackBerry's share also declined slightly, while the Apple OS grew by just 1.4 percentage points.
Gartner was the third research group this month, after Canalys and NPD Group, to peg Android as holding the top spot in the US smartphone market by sales.
Taiwanese vendor HTC is the biggest beneficiary from Android’s growth, with sales of its Android devices propelling it into the global handset top ten.