According to a new survey by comparison site Good Mobile Phones, HTC handsets have overtake Apple iPhone to emerge as the most searched for smartphones in the UK.

The survey showed that HTC's new handsets, with the Wildfire, Desire and Desire HD were the top three in the list of top ten handsets searched for in the country.

The Samsung Galaxy S and Nokia N8 took forth and fifth position while Apple iPhone 4 was reduced to sixth place. The list is completed by RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8520, Samsung's Tocco Lite, the BlackBerry Torch and Sony's Xperia X10 Mini.

Mark Owen, MD of the comparison site told the newspaper: "For some time now, HTC has been knocking at the door and trying to overtake the Apple iPhone's dominance of the handset market. Our results clearly show that they have taken the lead in terms of consumer demand for their smartphones."

He citied the high cost of the Apple smartphone as a deterrent for many consumers. He added thatApple has not kept up with rivals in incentivising consumers and HTC handsets offer a more competitive technological edge relating to features and functionality.