Moto G, Apple iPhone fuelling UK smartphone market as Android and Samsung ...

We're all used to Android being the definitive king of the smartphone hill by now, so it's not often you hear news of a wobble from Google's OS. However, market research bean counters Kantar Worldpanel Comtech's latest stats have shown that Android has slipped recently.

The numbers (spotted by the Inquirer) are for the end of February, and show that the iPhone has increased its market share by 3.1 per cent year-on-year in the UK, to 31.1 per cent - much of which, we'd imagine, will be down to the iPhone 5S (as the 5C wasn't so well received given its price not being much less than the flagship).

Android, however, has dropped from a 58.3 per cent market share to 54 per cent over the last quarter - a fairly substantial dip for a three month period. Samsung in particular had a rough ride, falling from 36.7 per cent to 30.2 per cent.

However, ebbing sales are to be expected given that the Galaxy S5 is just around the corner, with prospective buyers either electing to wait for the S5, or indeed for further S4 price cuts following the S5's official launch (it goes on sale 11 April).

Another interesting facet of Kantar's latest revelations about the UK market is the success of the Moto G handset, with Motorola going from next-to-nothing to a 5.9 per cent market share off the back of its budget Android wonder.

That's not surprising, really, given what you get for your money with the Moto G, which has pretty much been making every other budget Android smartphone look lacklustre since its launch last autumn.

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said: 'Motorola was nowhere in Europe before the Moto G launched in November last year, but the new model has since boosted the manufacturer to 6 per cent of British sales. It highlights the speed at which a quality budget phone can disrupt a market.'

Apparently 83 per cent of Moto G owners are male, and almost half are aged 16 to 24-years-old, with 40 per cent earning less than £20,000 per year.

Across the whole of Europe, Android remained in pole position with a 68.9 per cent market share, with Apple following on 19 per cent, and Windows Phone on 9.7 per cent.