There’s a surge in Android momentum among smartphone enthusiasts, according to a new survey from ChangeWave Research. According to the research institute, Google’s Android has significantly impacted Apple's dominance of consumer mindshare in the smartphone world.

ChangeWave found only 38 percent of the people it interviewed want iOS on their next smartphone. That's down 12 points from June when 50 percent of respondents said they wanted an iPhone. Meanwhile, 37 percent of survey participants say they want an Android based phone.

ChangeWave notes that the drop in iPhone interest is in part due to the fact that iPhone 4 had just launched in June – a time when iPhone mania was at its peak. Still, this is the closest Android and iPhone interest has ever been in a ChangeWave study.

For more than a year, ChangeWave consumer smartphone surveys have been chronicling the upward movement of the Google Android operating system and its explosive impact on the smartphone market. Going forward, our latest consumer survey shows another surge in Android momentum among planned buyers.

The survey of 4,000 respondents, completed Sept. 23, takes a close-up look at the transformation occurring in mobile OS and smartphone preferences.

There’s been a huge leap forward for the Android OS in four of the last five ChangeWave surveys. All told, it’s a six-fold increase in consumer preference for the Google OS in a year’s time. As for the ubiquitous BlackBerry, Research in Motion’s results are less encouraging. Preference for the RIM OS (6 percent) is up just 1-pt since June, a time when RIM had fallen to its lowest level. The current 1-pt uptick is likely attributable to the recent launch of the new Torch smartphone.

In terms of customer satisfaction, ChangeWave reports that as previously, the Apple iOS leads the industry with 74 percent of customers who use the iPhone OS saying they’re Very Satisfied. Just behind them is the Android OS, with two-in-three users (65 percent) saying they’re Very Satisfied. The Very Satisfied ratings of both these players dwarf those of other major operating systems, including the Palm OS/Web OS (32 percent), RIM OS (31 percent) and Windows Mobile (24 percent).