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We recently reported Android’s strength in the US where it makes up 39 per cent of the smartphone market. That may be a fantastic figure but in the UK Google’s OS has done even better, grabbing 48.8 per cent of all smartphone sales.

According to figures released by research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, smartphones now account for 50 per cent of all UK phone handset sales. Android are the clear leaders of the pack as well; Apple’s iOS recorded a 20.2 per cent share of the market, less than half the sales of Google’s OS . That’s a decline of 5 per cent in the past year.

Speaking on the UK’s boom in smartphone adoption, Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar, said Android’s adoption had been encouraged by smartphone giveaways. ”The two countries which sell the most smartphones (GB and Australia) are also the same two where the highest proportion of smartphones are given free to consumers signing up to contract tariffs (61% free in Great Britain, 44% free in Australia)” explained the technology analyst.

“Consumers find it very compelling to be offered a free smartphone with little to no increase in tariff. This is a very different story in countries like Italy, where the vast majority of the market is prepay, meaning that handset subsidies, if they exist at all, are minimal.”

For all the latest news on how Android fares against its smartphone OS rivals stay tuned to Life Of Android.