Android smartphone users will download more apps than Apple iPhone owners this year, as sales of devices using the Google operating system surge ahead, according to a report from telecoms analyst Ovum

Applications, which range from games to alarm clocks and weather information, will jump from a total 7.4 billion downloaded in 2010 to 18 billion this year.

For the first time, phones running on Google’s Android operating system will download more apps than iPhones, with 8.1 billion going to Android phones compared with Apple’s 6 billion.

Last year, Apple and Android reached 1.4bn and 2.7bn respectively. In the second quarter of the year, Android accounted for 46 per cent of smartphones sold, while Apple was the second highest seller at 20 per cent.

Ovum says Android will reinforce its lead, and by 2016 there will have almost twice the number of downloads as the iPhone – 21.8 billion compared with 11.6 billion.

By 2015, the prediction is that Windows Phone, currently undergoing a facelift, will gain ground and overtake BlackBerry for third place in both total number of downloads and revenues by 2015.

However, iPhone is expected to retain its lead in generating the most paid for downloads, with $2.86 billion in 2016, compared with $1.5 billion of revenue from Android devices.

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