Okay now it’s time for all you Android lovers out there to do some gloating over the iPhone fanboy brigade as apparently the Android OS is now the dominant smartphone operating system globally overtaking Apple iPhone iOS.

According to an article over on Electronistia, analysts at Gartner say that the Android platform leaped up to 10.6 million handsets sold, taking 17.2% of the market and overtaking the iPhone, although apparently the researchers think Apple has sold more iPhone handsets than they shipped at 8.47 million.

However the higher number still only put the iPhone at 4th place with 14.2% of the market. Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platform growth saw a slight slip to 18.2%, which puts the platform within striking distance of Android. Symbian hasn’t faired too well either seeing a steep drop from 51% down to 41.2% of the market.

When it comes to individual mobile phone manufacturers, Apple still commands over the likes of HTC at 2.7% and within a tenth of a point of Motorola. Motorola along with Sony Ericsson face the steepest drops a they are still shifting to smartphones.