The launch of Apple’s latest iPhones has given it “a huge jump in sales shares across all major markets”, according to the latest smartphone stats from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The research firm claims that for the three months to October 2014, Apple saw its OS share across key European markets increase by 5.9 points to reach 20.7 per cent.

The launch of iPhone 6 saw Apple’s market share for iOS in the UK reach 39.5 per cent, the highest ever level for the vendor in this market. But it was primarily driven by upgraders: 86 per cent of buyers already had an iPhone, while only 5 per cent switched from Samsung.

Interestingly, customers in the UK overwhelmingly prefer the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 6 Plus, with a 4:1 ratio.

However, in terms of platforms, Android sales still made up 69.4 per cent of smartphone OS sales across Europe, down 2.6 points. Windows Phone stood third, with 8.7 per cent of the market – with Microsoft’s platform seeing its share drop by 1.3 points.

In the US, Apple’s iOS sales increase was “more modest”, growing 0.7 percentage points year-on-year. Verizon and AT&T took an almost equal share of iPhone 6 sales (42.2 per cent versus 41.1 per cent respectively), although AT&T captured a 63 per cent share of iPhone 6 Plus sales.

In the US, the iPhone 6 to iPhone 6 Plus sales ratio was slightly narrower, at 3:1.

Moving onto China, Apple’s iOS share grew 0.2 percentage points to 15.7 per cent, with the iPhone 6 being launched in the country in mid-October.

However, Xiaomi dominated the sales chart, with its RedMi Note phablet the top model in October.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech did not give an iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus breakdown for China, a market where bigger-screen smartphones have proved popular.