Apple scored 53 percent of sales of smartphones in the U.S. in the12-week period leading up to Nov.25, representing its highest share of the market ever.

The data from analysis firm Kantar Worldpanel Comtech attributes the sales down to the iPhone 5 and is a big increase from 35.8 percent share Apple had of the U.S. market a year prior.

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"Apple has reached a major milestone in the U.S. by passing the 50 percent share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to be made during December," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

However, Apple's good news in the U.S. is not translated elsewhere. Kantar said that in Europe, Samsung continues to hold the number one smartphone manufacturer spot across the big five countries, with 44.3 percent share in the latest 12 weeks. Apple is in second place in Europe with 25.3 percent share while HTC, Sony, and Nokia shares remain close in the chase for third position.

The news follows warning from Informa Telecoms & Media on Tuesday that Apple will struggle against Android in the U.S. in 2013.

"With the continued rise of top-end Android devices, iPhone sales in the US could face significant challenges if Apple does not manage to make radical changes to its ageing iOS, particularly to the user interface (UI)," said Informa analyst Malik Saadi. "This situation could lead to even the most ardent Apple fans churning as they become disillusioned with using the same UI framework for more than six years. Informa anticipates that US sales of the iPhone will decline to 34 million units in 2013, down from 35.5 million in 2012."

Kantar added that Nokia, which is the significant licensee of Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 OS, continues to find it tough in the U.S. where sales remain subdued.

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