Thanks to Galaxy S6, Android makes gains in U.S. (but not Europe)

Samsung's Galaxy S6 helped boost Android's market share in the U.S. over the past three months according to data released on Tuesday by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The research firm says that for the March to May time period, Android accounted for 64.9 percent of devices sold, up 2.8 percent from the prior three months. With a full month of Galaxy S6 availability, Samsung saw its share of total U.S. Android sales rise to 55 percent as a result.

With just 30 days of Galaxy S6 sales under its belt, Kantar found that the older Galaxy S5 outsold the newer model; a situation that will likely reverse in the coming months. Both, however, lagged behind Apple's iPhone 6 in terms of total sales.

The situation is bit different in some European regions, however.

In the U.K, for example, Android only had a 52.9 percent total share during the three month period. More than one in three consumers there use Apple's iOS, with the platform accounting for 38.1 percent of sales.

And when it comes to switchers in Europe, Android is losing out compared to historical figures. For the three month period ending in just 5 percent of new Android sales came from iPhone owners; down from 11 percent in the year ago period.

That makes sense. With larger phone models introduced last year as well as changes in iOS 8 making it easier to share data between apps, I'd expect more Android switchers to buy iPhones than the other way around. In April, Apple CEO Tim Cook alluded to that, saying the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are seeing a higher number of people switching from Android than any previous iPhone models.

Have you switched mobile platforms in 2015 and if so, to which one and why? I'm still a multi-phone user, swapping my SIM card between an iPhone 6 and 2014 Moto X to get the best of both worlds.