WASHINGTON: Android-powered smartphones extended their lead in the global marketplace in the third quarter, helped by growth in emerging markets, a survey showed on Wednesday.

The Google-powered operating system was used in 84.7 per cent of smartphones sold worldwide in the quarter, up from 83.3pc a year earlier, the Gartner survey showed.

Apple and its iOS operating system meanwhile lifted its market share to 13.1pc from 12.5pc a year ago.

The two dominant systems left little for Windows Phone, which saw its market share slip to 1.7pc from 3pc, and Blackberry, down to 0.3pc from 0.8pc.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2015