Android has maintained its lead over iOS in 2012 so far thanks largely to strong sales of Samsung and HTC smartphones.

That's according to stats published by Kantar WorldPanel, with research conducted by the firm concluding Google's platform remains top dog in several major territories including the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia, despite strong competition from Apple.

One love

In mainland Europe, Android's share of the smartphone market has increased significantly year-on-year, with Google's hand in Spain and Italy jumping to 72 percent and 49 percent respectively.

But while Android plays host to OEMs aplenty, the top two – Samsung and HTC according to Kantar Worldpanel – account for the lion's share. In the UK, for instance, the two manufacturers combined make up 86 percent of all Android phones sold across the country.

Indeed, Kantar notes HTC's recently released One X is already one of the top performing smartphones on the market.

By comparison, Sony sold 10.4 percent of Android phones during the research's 12 week period, while LG accounted for less than 1 percent of sales in the UK.

How'd you like them apples?

The main tonic for Apple, however, is that iOS is standing up as the one genuine challenger to Android's dominance.

While former giants BlackBerry and Symbian continue to see their respective shares fall away, iOS remains a major player.

In the UK and US, iPhone growth is actually outpacing that Apple enjoyed in 2011, while in the US specifically Android has lost 6.6 percent market share in 2012 so far.

Smartphones as a whole are also slowly becoming the dominant mobile form, making up more than half of all handsets in both the UK and Australia. Other markets still lag behind, however – smartphones currently make up 32 percent of devices in Germany.

Looking ahead, analyst Dominic Sunnebo predicts that over the course of the next year, 22 million UK residents over the age of 13 will purchase a mobile, of which 80 percent will opt for a smartphone.

[source: TechCrunch]