When we first heard that Google and Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich announcement was moved to Hong Kong, we were all a bit puzzled. But now that we have come to find out that more then 50% of smartphones sold in Asia are running Android, it makes perfect sense. A new report from ABI shows that a whooping 52% of smartphones are Android. That’s a huge lead on the statistics for smartphones in the US, where only 43% of smartphones are running Android.

The growth of Android in Asia is especially astounding where Android has picked up 36% growth in just one year – now that’s awesome! Although much of Asia is still considered an emerging market which is why only about 27% of phones sold qualify as smartphones, compared to the US where its 40% of phones sold are smartphone quality.

In the coming few years Asia will become an even more important part of the smartphone market, and the tech world in general. Analysts are currently predicting that the smartphone market will almost double in the next five years, and if Android can maintain its current success, it’ll become a pretty one-sided one at that. With all the major Android players including Samsung, Asus, Acer, ZTE, LG and HTC having headquarters based in Asia, Asian consumers can expect some very nice handsets to become available in the coming months and years ahead. And chances are – they’ll be running Android, our favorite mobile OS.

Android is also making great strides in tablets and other form factors, like the highly anticipated Asus Transformer Prime, which will likely be the first Tegra 3 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet to go to market in the next few weeks.

How long before Android truly takes over the world and takes out all of the competition?