Rapid growth in Asia has been behind the latest jump in sales of smartphones running Google’s Android operating system, putting the internet group comfortably ahead of Apple in the race for leadership in mobile computing.

Sales of handsets that run on the Google software have exploded since the summer, based on figures released late last week, and are now running at twice the most recent rate disclosed for Apple’s iPhone.

Andy Rubin, the executive in charge of Google’s mobile software effort, said that international expansion lay behind the latest advance. Speaking in an interview with the FT, he also predicted that a boom in sales in India, Brazil, Indonesia and other emerging countries would contribute to the fast growth rate for the foreseeable future.