Technology research firm Gartner has released its report on world smartphone sales for the first quarter of 2013. The report puts both Android and Samsung as leaders in their respective markets, with Android accounting for 74.4% of all smartphone units sold and Samsung controlling 30.8% of the smartphone market.

Android has continued its stratospheric rise to prominence, with its market share increasing 17.5% year on year. Every other major smartphone operating system suffered losses, except for Microsoft’s Windows Phone, although the improvement from 1.9% to 2.9% probably isn’t the result Redmond was hoping for.

Google’s nearest competitor, Apple’s iOS dropped from 22.5% to 18.2%, continuing its slow decline. Blackberry’s (formerly known as Research In Motion) marketshare was cut in half and Samsung’s ill-fated Bada OS and Nokia’s decaying Symbian, both continued their trip to the operating system graveyard, as they couldn’t even muster a single percent each.

Smartphone sales increased from 147 million units sold in Q1 2012 to 210 million, however, interestingly all smartphone markets declined, with the exception of the Asia/Pacific region, which grew 6.4% year on year. Total handset sales reached 426 million in Q1 2013, an 0.7% increase compared with the same period last year.

Samsung continued its growth, albeit not as record-breaking as we have grown accustomed to, with it now controlling 30.8% of the market. Apple came in second with 18.2% of the market and LG, on the back of its successes with the Nexus 4, Optimus G and Optimus G Pro, rounded out the top 3.

Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei completed the top 5, with device makers Nokia, HTC, Lenovo, Sony and Co. making up the “others” section. Gartner also claims that budding operating systems Tizen, Firefox OS and Ubuntu will not affect the smartphone market in any great manner.

Both Android and Samsung are at the top of their respective food chains right now and it doesn’t look like this will change anytime soon. Samsung has recently released its flagship smartphone in the Galaxy S4 and Android will be bolstered by the introduction of the S4 as well as the launch of the HTC One, meaning it would not come as a surprise if Google and Samsung can muster up even bigger numbers in the upcoming quarters.

Do you think Android can grow even larger than it is now? Will new operating systems affect the market?