Google’s Android mobile software powered more than half of all smartphones sold across the world in the third quarter of 2011, doubling its market share as compared to last year, according to a research report by Gartner. The research giant said that smartphone sales by volume grew 42 percent even as some consumers delayed purchases in anticipation of Apple’s latest iPhone.

Roberta Cozza, analyst in Gartner’s European unit has said that Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment, and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems. According to the report, the global mobile handset sales during the third quarter totaled 440.5 million units, with smartphone sales reaching 115 million, representing a quarter-over-quarter increase of 7 percent and year-over-year increase of 42 percent.

Android smartphones led the way with sales of 60 million, up from the 20 million units sold last year, while Apple reported unit sales of 17 million, up from 13 million in the past year. Symbian based phones saw the biggest decline with sales falling to 19 million from 29 million in the past year resulting in its market share declining from 36.3 percent to 16.9 percent.

The report reveals that smartphone sales reached 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 42 percent from the same period in 2010. Further, smartphone sales accounted for 26 percent of all mobile phone sales, gaining only a marginal one percent in the previous quarter.

Cozza also states that the strong smartphone growth in China and Russia helped increase overall volumes in the quarter, but demand for smartphones stalled in advanced markets such as Western Europe and the U.S. as many users waited for new flagship devices featuring new versions of the key operating systems. She added that slowdowns also occurred in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.

Further, Ms. Cozza also said that some consumers held off upgrading in the third quarter because they were waiting for promotions on other new high-end models that were launched in the run-up to the fourth quarter holiday season, while other consumers were waiting for a rumored new iPhone and associated price cuts on older iPhone models which affected U.S. sales particularly.