Apple's (News - Alert) share of smartphone the smartphone market has been gaining ground in Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia, though "this trend is far from universal," the Kantar Group, as detailed by Reuters (News - Alert), says.

Essentially, the iPhone isn’t doing as well in Europe by comparison.

Apple's smartphone share fell from 27 percent to 22 percent in Germany, while other iPhone (News - Alert) drops were seen in Italy and Spain. The report noted that sales of "the expensive Apple model," the new iPhone 4S, were affected by weakening economies across Europe.

Between the beginning of September and the end of November, 61 percent of smartphone market share went to handsets running on Android, with the Samsung (News - Alert) Galaxy S II swelling the figures.

In the U.K., Australia and the United States however, the new iPhone sold very well over the last few months, making up for the poor sales earlier in 2011. In the U.K., the iPhone has snaffled a market share of 31 percent over these three months, up from just 21.4 percent over the same period last year.

Speaking of Apple in other markets, news today from China's "People's Daily Online" has the iPhone 4S now getting the China Compulsory Certification (3C) for electronic products on December 22nd, 2011. That was the final regulatory hurdle need to be overcome before Apple can offer the device in mainland China.

The iPhone 4S is expected to reach the Chinese market before the Chinese New Year, which starts Monday, January 23, 2012.

Despite what may appear to have been a long, drawn-out process to get the iPhone 4S into China, if the January 23rd launch date happens, it will be the fastest time Apple has managed to get one of its new devices into the Chinese market.

Some distributors in Shenyang and Shenzhen have started to take bookings for the iPhone 4S.