Samsung has disabled an advanced search function in an update to the international version of its flagship Galaxy S3 smartphone, following a patent dispute with Apple.
Once the software is installed the phones no longer search contacts, apps and other on-device material using software developed by Google.
<link> <caption>Android Central, which revealed the news</caption> <url href="http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-kills-local-search-international-galaxy-s-iii-stability-update" platform="highweb"/> </link> , noted that users were not told the update would disable the service.
It follows a similar move in the US.
Apple claims the innovation infringes its patent to a <link> <caption>single search interface</caption> <url href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN/8086604" platform="highweb"/> </link> which it uses in its Siri app to collate results from a range of sources.
The iPhone maker had already managed to enforce a brief sales ban on another Samsung handset - the Galaxy Nexus - in the US because of the patent.
That dispute will be considered again by a Washington-based court on 20 August - but whatever the ruling, it would not have applied to the GT-i9300 (S3) model sold in the UK and other places outside the US.
A spokeswoman for Samsung was unable to provide more detail.
"Samsung may be doing this as a precautionary measure to prevent it having to pay damages on devices sold outside the US in case Apple prevails in the States and then pursues a similar suit elsewhere," said Simon Clark, head of intellectual property at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.
"Generally speaking a multinational company like Apple will have patent protection in all its key countries, and the wording will be very similar in each area. Although patent law can vary across territories it's quite likely that a ruling in one country will lead to similar decisions in others."