GOOGLE'S Android operating system is the world's leading mobile platform for mobile phones and tablets.

According to research company IDC, Android shipped 105 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2012 to jump to 68 per cent of the world market share, up from 47 per cent during the same quarter last year.

Samsung is the leading manufacturer of smartphones running on the Android platform, helping the operating system strengthen its dominant lead in the market. Samsung alone sold 44 per cent of all Android devices last quarter and shipped more smartphones than other Android manufacturers combined. IDC estimates that Samsung shipped 50 million smartphones during the quarter, although this figure includes a few million phones running Samsung's Bada operating system.

Google's operating system is widely accessible in most markets and available on a variety of products, with several advanced features not found on other platform devices. Android users can enjoy popular Google applications, more than 600,000 applications and games available on Google Play, as well as millions of songs, books and movies.

Due to Android's boost in the second quarter, Apple's iOS decreased its market share to 17 per cent, and remaining competitors were each held to under five per cent of the market.

With 68 per cent of the market share, Google's Android is clearly the star in a competitive global marketplace for smartphones. Strong partnership with Samsung continues to fuel Android's upward momentum and drive market dominance.