No thanks to the premium price of Apple's iPhone, Android smartphones have become the preferred device in most developed economies, according to the new figures issued recently by Kantar WorldPanel ComTech.

From the United States to Australia and some key European markets, the Google-powered handsets dominate by an average of at least 50 percent, with the nearest rival, the iOS, not too far behind as of June 2012.

ComTech also noted that Apple's smartphone market shares actually spiked in significant numbers as far the U.S. British and Italian markets were concerned, which, analysts said, was testament to the company's continuing climb both in sales and popularity.

But such standing was only true if budget was no matter at all for consumers wishing to migrate from feature phones to smartphones.

It appears that while most American and British consumers would not blink at all in snapping up the sexy but pricey iPhone 4S, their Australian counterparts think otherwise.

ComTech said that by the end of the second quarter this year, Android smartphones were in the hands of 56.9 percent of Aussie owners as compared to the 36.4 percent Android ownership that was registered in the corresponding period last year.

The only nation that bested Australia, the new report said, was Spain, where Android handsets were owned by more than 84 percent smartphone users.

Apple fans in Australia also noticeably shrunk in the past 12 months, ComTech said, from last year's 36.9 percent to last months' 30.5 percent, still a considerable share when pitted against the total share of Spanish iPhone owners.

Only 3.2 percent of smartphone users in Spain can be seen brandishing the popular Apple handset, which ironically has captured the fancy of most in the developed world.

Much of Android's success can be attributed to its affordable unit price, according to ComTech consumer insight director Dominic Sunnebo.

Many first-time smartphone buyers were lured in the last 12 months to entry-level Android gadgets that can be had for as low as $US80, Mr Sunnebo said.

"Android handsets currently offer an easier platform to enable these consumers to upgrade, as many first-time smartphone consumers state 'price of handset' and 'multimedia capabilities' as their main reason for choosing an Android device," the ComTech analyst told PC Magazine on Friday.

However, unlike in Australia, Android's rule in the United States, currently the world's biggest smartphone market if China will be excluded, has been diminishing as ComTech noted that from the 57 percent since last year, sales of units in the mobile platform dipped to 50.2 percent.

The decline can be credited to a host of reasons, chief of which is the legal battles that Apple has been waging against Android handset makers Samsung and HTC, with the former hurting the most.

But maybe U.S. buyers were simply smitten by the iPhone allure and do not care a bit on the expensive price tag of the product, a conjecture that can be proven once the much anticipated iPhone 5 makes its way to the global market later this year.

By that time, it would be a battle royal between Android and iOS, whose supremacy further pushed down the fortunes of former market leaders BlackBerry and Nokia, market shares of which have been reduced tremendously.

That period also marks the market debut of Windows 8 smartphones from Microsoft and its partner handset manufacturers though the software giant had already conceded that the impact of its entry late in the game cannot be measured until by the near-term.

First, it needs to build a viable ecosystem that will enable to squarely compete with the offerings of Apple and Google, which indeed is a long-way to go.