Almost half of all smartphones sold in Europe were manufactured by Samsung in the three months ended May 2013, helping Android increase its mobile OS share in some of Europe’s biggest markets, according to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The market-research firm reports that across Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, Android commanded a 70.4 per cent share, up from 61.3 per cent a year ago.

Android, with Samsung’s help, dwarfs the shares of iOS and Windows Phone across the ‘big five’ European markets, which stand at 17.8 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively.

“Samsung now finds itself in a position where, after two years of relentless growth, it must focus on keeping its existing base of customers loyal if it is to maintain its success,” said Paul Moore, global director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

“As it stands, Samsung has the second-highest loyalty rate in Britain (59 per cent), but this falls well short of Apple (79 per cent).”

Moore adds that with competitors dramatically upping their game in terms of build quality and content innovation, the South Korean manufacturer will have to work hard to convince its customers to stick with the brand.

As well as gaining ground in Europe, Kantar reports that Android retained its place as the top OS in the US with a 52 per cent market share.

However, Android’s share has grown by a meagre 0.1 percentage point in the past year – a far slower rate than 3.5 percentage points for iOS (now 41.9 per cent of the market) and 0.9 for Windows (4.6 per cent).

“In the US, Apple’s expanded distribution agreement with T-Mobile is helping the iPhone keep Android growth at bay,” said Moore.

And though T-Mobile is the smallest of the four nationwide US carriers, Moore says it has capacity to give iOS a boost, particularly as 28 per cent of its customers – according to Kantar data – plan to buy an iPhone when they next upgrade.