Sales of Android phones that include Google's Nexus One and Motorola's Droid have risen by 8% year on year, while sales of Apple's iPhone OS has increased at 4.9% from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010.
Figures from technology research group Gartner showed worldwide sales of Google's Android rose from 575,000 in Q1 2009 to over 5 million in the same period this year, while sales of the iPhone rose from 3.8 million to 8.3 million.
Sales of Androids have also overtaken Apple iPhone in North America increasing 707% year on year, accounting for 26.6% of all units sold, compared with 22.1% for the iPhone.
Apple's popularity however continues to steal a march on Google in the rest of the world with the iPhone accounting for 15.4% of the smartphone marketplace, compared with Android's 9.6%.
Smartphones accounted for 17.3% of all mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from 13.6% in the same period in 2009.
Both Android and Apple were the only two OS vendors among the top five to increase market share year on year.
In contrast, Microsoft Windows mobile has seen a sharp drop in market share. In Q1 last year, Microsoft and Apple were battling it out with only 0.3% in market share between them. Microsoft has since seen its market share tumble from 10.2% in Q1 2009 to 6.8%, putting it behind Android for the first time.
Symbian remained in the number one position in the smartphone market, accounting for nearly 49% but continued to lose as Nokia remains weak in the high-end portfolio.
Gartner research vice-president Carolina Milanesi said: "In the first quarter of 2010, smartphone sales to end users saw their strongest year-on-year increase since 2006."
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