Samsung and Apple agree to make smartphones not war

The costly legal battles between Samsung and Apple are being curtailed so they can concentrate on fighting off the rivals making inroads into their smartphone sales

All patent litigation outside the United States is being scaled down.

Analysts said the ceasefire did not include the US because the cases there involve much bigger amounts of potential damages.

The strategic alliance came just days after Samsung posted weaker earnings, partly hit by rising competition from Chinese smartphone makers.

Apple is not immune. Its worldwide market share of smartphone sales fell from 13 percent to just under 11.9 percent in the period from the second quarter 2013 to the second quarter of this year. Samsung’s share is down from 32.3 percent of the total to 25.2 percent during that year.

The legal battle between the two is mostly over alleged copying of elements of their handsets.

The agreement will see less money being paid out to armies of lawyers in Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Spain.