3 out of 4 smart phones sold in the 3rd quarter use Google's Android

Three out of four smart phones sold in the third quarter are using Google's Android operating system, a research has revealed.

According to a report by IDC, 136 million Android smart phones were sold in the third quarter, boosting Android's share of the worldwide market to 75%, up from 57.5% the previous year.

The report said that Apple's share of the market grew from 13.8 per cent this time last year to 14.9 per cent, the Telegraph reports.

Blackberry and Symbian operating systems, meanwhile, saw a steep decline in market share, the report added.

The paper quoted IDC analyst Kevin Restivo, as saying that Android's close "tie-ins" to Google's broad array of online services such as online search and maps was a key factor in the growth of Android.

"Google has a thriving, multi-faceted product portfolio. Many of its competitors, with weaker tie-ins to the mobile OS, do not," he wrote in the IDC report.

According to the paper, Google's Android operating system is available to phone manufacturers for free and makes money from online advertising when customers access its services.