It's especially easy to focus of the inrush of new handsets with bigger screens and more powerful chipsets, but in terms of market expansion, entry-level devices will play a greater role in the years to come.

Research by Nomura International suggests it's an area of growth Android is likely to dominate for the foreseeable future.

According to its findings, Google's OS is set to benefit from what has already become a race to the bottom from manufacturers in China, with the current tally of 20 million sub-$150 handsets set to rise to 79 million by 2013.

It's a situation particularly put into perceptive as Nokia tries to retool its low cost Symbian range with the Windows Phone OS.

Android acceleration

"We believe the emergence of the Android OS has lowered the technology barriers between handset brand vendors capable of high-end product development and handset OEM," the firm stated in its report.

China itself is likely provide most of the room for such expansion.

Nomura reports that currently only 5 percent of mobile subscribers in the region spend the $30 a month needed to afford an iPhone. Bringing annual costs down for consumers will, naturally, result in a comparative userbase surge.

Importantly for Google, however, said devices – likely to be manufactured by the likes of BYD, TCL Communication Technology Holdings, China Wireless Technologies, ZTE Corp and Lenovo – will be almost exclusively pitched at Android.

Naturally running slower chips than the most expensive handsets, the lower specs required to meet such a price point rule out the vast majority of Android's competitors.

[source: Total Telecom]