According to Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytic.com), Samsung’s Galaxy S II was the most widely available smartphone in the first half of 2012.

Samsung pipped Apple to the top spot with the Galaxy S II i9100 (16GB), closely followed by Apple’s iPhone 4S 16GB, says the research group. The Galaxy SII is available from every network operator and retail channel analyzed by the Strategy Analytics. The key finds of the report include:

° Samsung’s Galaxy S II i9100 (16GB) shows universal availability (only absent from the iStore shelves); the Apple iPhone 4S 16GB comes in a close second.

° Nokia’s Lumia 800 gained traction early in its lifecycle being available through 77% of global channels just months after launch; beating Samsung’s heavily publicized Galaxy S III i9300 16GB launched in Q2 2012.

° HTC’s One X quad-core device (launched at MWC in February 2012) came in 12th place showing across two-thirds of shelves.

° The HTC Wildfire S and RIM Blackberry Curve 2 8520 entry level smartphones continue to be available from more than 60% of channels despite their age.

° Samsung has the most devices in the ranking with five smartphones in the top 10 by shelf-share. When the list is expanded to the top 20 widely available smartphones then devices from Sony, HTC and Motorola feature as popular in network operators product portfolios.