The smartphone sales during the third quarter this year almost doubled compared to 2009, driven mainly by growth in mobile operating system Android, although Symbian still has remained as the main platform between mobile devices.

Another highlight was the Apple’s iPhone, which also shows a good performance, according to the report of a research firm Gartner released this Wednesday.

Only smartphones accounted for about one fifth of all phones aimed at consumers, with 81 million units sold. Among them, the leadership remained with Nokia, with about 29.5 million handsets sold with the Symbian operating system, up from 18.3 million last year. However, in market share, it fell from 44.6% to 36.6%.

Second place was occupied for the first time, Android, which was present in 20.5 million units sold. A year ago, the same survey found that only 1.4 million devices with Google’s platform had been sold. Thus, their involvement jumped from 3.5% in 2009 to 25.5% this year.

The difference between the two major mobile platforms tends to decrease more during the year-end purchases, according to vice president at Gartner.

Worldwide, the global sales of phones, not just smartphones, totaled 417 million in the third quarter, an increase of 35% over the same period in 2009. The top five vendors were: Nokia, Samsung, LG, Apple and RIM.

Via: PC World.