According to recent sales figures, the popularity of the iPhone 4S, although remaining steady in the UK, US and Australia, hasn’t been similarly successful throughout Europe. Data gather by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech published in a report from Reuters shows that Apple’s latest smartphone is lagging behind sales of cheaper and yet similarly powerful models from competitors such as Samsung. European countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain are said to have shown “no iPhone fever”, and speculation as to the cause is primarily focused around “price sensitivity” due to the constant financial anxiety of the potential debt crisis.

In both the UK and the US, the iPhone 4S is thought to have been a major factor in increasing Apple’s market shares over the past few months. US figures increased from 25 per cent last year to 36 per cent last month, whilst in the UK 21 per cent rose to 31 per cent. In France, however, the market share dropped from 29 per cent to 20 per cent, and in Germany the decline was from 27 per cent to 22. The same data survey showed that in Germany Google’s Android operating systems won out over Apple’s iOS, with Android dominating 61% of the smartphone market. The Samsung Galaxy S2 was proven to be the country’s most popular handset.

When the iPhone 4S was released in October, many Apple fans were disappointed having expected the release of the highly anticipated iPhone 5. Although Apple has stated their confidence that the iPhone 4S is the most popular smartphone yet, according to Europe’s sales figures they need to keep a firmer grasp on the overseas market if they want to continue to dominate worldwide. With Samsung set to release the Samsung Galaxy S3 at some point in 2012, Apple need to bring the next generation iPhone to the table in order to compete. Find out the latest news in the smartphone wars at the Dial-a-phone website, and see who will come out on top in the coming months.