As Samsung and Apple continue to sue each other all over the world, Apple has repeatedly asserted that the South Korea-based vendor builds “copycat” devices that make unlawful use of Apple’s patents and steal elements of Apple’s designs. Only one court has wholeheartedly agreed with Apple’s claims thus far, but the battles continue and will likely carry on for quite some time despite renewed settlement talks. An image of a new Samsung smartphone was published on Wednesday evening and while the specs that leaked alongside the unannounced device may or may not be accurate, one thing is certain: Apple will never claim Samsung copied its designs with this smartphone.
A photograph of the Samsung SPH-L300 smartphone was published by BriefMobile on Wednesday, and the handset reportedly features a dual-core Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a WVGA display, a 5-megapixel camera, 4G LTE and a design that is a substantial departure from Samsung’s typical styling in a number of ways.
For one thing, the device’s capacitive Android navigation buttons appear to be etched into the plastic case beneath the display. For another, the look of the smartphone is a blatant ripoff of HTC’s design aesthetic. Replace the etched Ice Cream Sandwich buttons with a trackball, and the yet-to-be-released SPH-L300 could definitely be mistaken for the 28-month-old Nexus One. Even without any changes, this handset could easily be mistaken for any one of a dozen old HTC phones.
HTC has bigger concerns right now, and a door through which it might walk, so we doubt we’ll see any lawsuits pop up over the striking similarities between this upcoming Samsung phone and its older handsets, even though “other designs are possible.”
