iPhone 5 Release Date: Google's Android Beats Apple's iOS as Most Popular Platform

By CP News Briefs, Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Recent figures by market research firm Nielsen shows that Android phones are the most popular smartphones among new buyers from June to August.

According to the report, over those three months 56 percent of Americans chose to buy one of Google’s Android phones compared to just 28 percent opting for an Apple iPhone.

Also among all smartphone users 43 percent are now using Google’s Android platform, 28 percent using Apple’s iOS and 18 percent use Blackberry’s platform. The remaining 11 percent of smartphone users are using Nokia, Microsoft and Samsung platforms.

Analyst Don Kellogg wrote on the Nielsen blog that the smartphone market share will be volatile in the next couple of months up to Christmas, a time when most people buy new handsets.

“In any event, the growing popularity of app-and-media friendly smartphones spells tremendous opportunity for those advertisers, publishers and developers eager to leverage mobile media,” wrote Kellogg.

Apple's market share could increase dramatically in the coming months if rumors are true that the iPhone 5 is set to be released in October.

Apple has confirmed that it will be hosting a media event on October 4 at its campus in Cupertino, California.

Invitations for the event are labeled: “Let’s talk iPhone.”

Information regarding date, time, and place of the press briefing were presented on four iOS icons.

"In the past, Apple has used its invitation to include cryptic hints as to what it will announce," Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a letter to investors.

"The phrase on this year's invite, 'Let's talk iPhone,' may be a simple play on words, but may also refer to new speech-based features for the iPhone,” he added.

The iPhone 5 is rumored to have a voice-control system known as the “Assistant” and 1GB of RAM, tech news site TUAW wrote.

According to the report, upgrades of the new iPhone include an A5 chip, 1GB of internal memory, and an 8-megapixal camera.