Currently the Android platform has the largest global smartphone market share whilst iOS sits in second place, and as with most things analysts try to predict what will happen in the smartphone market over the coming years. So over the next four years will iOS overtake Android to become number one? Not according to the latest prediction.

Analyst and market intelligence firm IDC have now altered their predictions on the way the global smartphone market will move over the next four years, although of course as these are predictions obviously it can change. However it is expected that Android will still dominate the smartphone market come 2016, which shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone.

Currently the Android platform as of this year holds 68.3 percent of the global smartphone market, which IDC predicts will slip slightly by 2016 to 63.8 percent, but will remain the smartphone global leader due to numerous low end and mid range devices being offered by the likes of Samsung, LG and Sony.

At present iOS sits in second place with 18.8 percent in 2012, and although IDC previously predicted that Windows Phone would overtake the Apple OS, the firm now predicts Windows Phone will snag only 11.4 percent of the market, whilst iOS will stay reasonably stable at 19.1 percent in 2016.

When it comes to Research In Motion and their BlackBerry devices, who are depending on BlackBerry 10 to pull them back to their former status, in 2012 BlackBerry has 4.7 percent, whilst come 2016 it is expected to drop slightly to 4.1 percent.

As for such mobile platforms as Symbian, Bada, and Meego, well it is predicted that they will be almost extinct come 2016, something that shouldn’t really surprise, and other mobile operating systems like SailFish and Tizen will struggle somewhat and predicted to only garner a combined market share of 1.5 percent.

Of course a lot can happen in four years as the smartphone market develops rather fast so these predictions should be taken just as what they are…predictions.