Android continues to dominate the European smartphone scene, with the Google-backed operating system (OS) now holding over two-thirds of the market according to the latest statistics from Kantar Worldpanel.

The research firm claims that in the 12-week period ending August 5th, Android controlled 67.1 percent of the European smartphone OS market, up by 20.2 percentage points from the same time a year ago. Spain is the leading European market for Android, a country where the OS accounts for a staggering 86.8 percent of all smartphone platforms.

Apple’s iOS platform has fallen 5 percent in the last year, and now holds a 14.6 percent market share. Number three player RIM (6.1 percent share) also lost share (from 11 percent a year ago), while Microsoft’s Windows platform saw slight growth (up from 3.6 percent a year ago to 5.2 percent today). “Surprisingly, Windows has managed to maintain its 5 percent share despite a raft of new Windows 8 products being announced,” noted Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “However, this has been achieved through heavy discounting.”

Sunnebo also noted that phones with bigger screens are becoming noticeably more popular across Europe – 29 percent of the Android devices sold in the past 12 weeks had a screen size of over 4.5 inches.

“It is interesting to look at the impact a larger screen size has on how consumers use their smartphones, particularly as the line between tablets and smartphones becomes more blurred,” he said. “Consumers who own a smartphone with a larger screen tend to be much more engaged with their device across a whole array of functions. For example, only 19 percent of consumers with a screen smaller than three inches download and watch videos, compared to 65 percent when the screen is five inches or more.”

However, Sunnebo said bigger screens don’t just lead to an improved consumer experience; they also play a key part in customer retention. Kantar’s data shows that the more engaged consumers are with their device, the more likely they are to stay loyal to an OS or brand when they upgrade.