Android outsells iPhone in US ahead of 4G launch

The pressure on Apple's 4G iPhone launch is mounting after it emerged that Google's rival smartphone operating system - Android - is outselling its competitor in America.

Although iPhone sales helped Apple post impressive results last month, research now shows that Android-powered mobiles are second in the US smartphone market, behind Blackberry.

Android phones accounted for 28 per cent of sales in the first quarter of the year, while the iPhone had a 21 per cent share. BlackBerry, made by Canadian firm Research in Motion, remained dominant with more than a third of the market.

The iPhone revolutionised the smartphone sector when it was released in 2007, but Google responded with its own operating system released a year later as the two companies, who once got on well, went to war over the mobile internet market.

Google's Android was not an immediate hit but sales have taken off in recent months. One of the main factors in Android's favour is that it is found in a variety of handsets - unlike the iPhone system.

Crucially, many of the handsets that now carry Android are seen as equal or even superior to the iPhone in terms of performance and design.

Android's sudden emergence is not confined to America. In the UK sales of mobile phones using the platform increased fourfold in April - mainly thanks to the launch of handsets like the 'iPhone killer' HTC Desire.

Apple is obviously worried about its rival and earlier this year accused HTC of infringing patents in a lawsuit that appeared to try and undermine the Android system.

Steve Jobs will be desperate to claw back sales from his former friends at Google when the fourth generation iPhone is launched. It is expected to be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco next month.

Among the new phone's expected selling points is the ability to run more than one application at a time - something that Android developed first. ·