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Android’s upward momentum continues as it seizes at least half of all smartphone sales in some major markets, including Great Britain, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United States, according to the latest report released by market analyst Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The figures show that in the twelve weeks ending on June 10, 2012, Google’s Android operating system accounted for over 50 percent of all units sold across Europe and the U.S., with sales ranging from the highest in Spain at a massive 84.1 percent, to the lowest in Italy at 49.6 percent.

Android’s keys to success, according to Kantar’s consumer insight director Dominic Sunnebo, are its relatively inexpensive pricing and great multimedia functionality. Android-powered devices are great options for consumers looking to spend less than £50 on their next handset, as well as for first time smartphone users trading up from a feature phone.

Sunnebo adds: "Smartphone consumers are much more loyal to their brand of handset and carrier than feature phone consumers, highlighting the importance of capturing feature phone owners when they are starting to look to change their handset".

The research firm also points out that in the U.K. market, affordable pay-as-you-go smartphones like Samsung Galaxy Ace and Galaxy Y are performing particularly well, snatching a group of young consumers who had previously been loyal to Research in Motion’s BlackBerry devices.

Another note-worthy fact is that although Android holds its top position in the U.S. with a 50 percent of market share, it saw a drop of 6.8 percentage points from last year. Apple’s iOS, in the meantime, has gained 8.7 percentage points to 37.4 percent, narrowing the gap between the two platforms. The growth is believed to be backed by the first time availability of the iPhone 4 and 4S on Sprint’s network.

Android’s dominance in the smartphone field seems to be unstoppable at the moment, but it should be interesting to see how the situation will change when Apple launches the highly anticipated iPhone 5 around the world later this year.