While much of the discussion over which mobile platform is better – Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android – is subjective, we occasionally run across some hard data that may push conclusions in one direction or the other. A recent study by Spaceport.io, dubbed the PerfMarks Report, provides one such piece of data.

The report compares Android’s and iOS’s performance in HTML5. According to the study, the iPhone and iPad were often as much as three times faster than the next best Android competitor, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. What makes the results especially interesting is the fact that HTML5 is often seen as something of a threat to Apple. The HTML5 web standard allows developers to create completely platform-agnostic apps. These web apps will run on any browser capable of handlilng HTML5, whether smartphone, tablet, or laptop/desktop computer. As such, web apps aren’t subject to the “walled garden” of the iOS App Store.

Yet, as Spaceport’s data shows, the iPhone and iPad are significantly better at handling HTML5 than anything Android has on offer. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first Android phone to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, and is widely regarded as among the best Android phone available.

Spaceport.io is a company that specializes in development tools for games on various platforms, including iOS, Android, and others. The report was designed to measure the current state of the implementation of HTML5 on mobile devices.