Samsung has admitted that parts of the user interface design for a new mobile phone were copied from Apple and Microsoft, Korean media reported yesterday. 

Users of a Korean online forum first noticed that Samsung's new 'Skin' range of phones had borrowed icons such as the rounded blue and green figures that Microsoft uses to symbolise its MSN Messenger software, the Korea Times said. 

The two models in the 'Skin' range which use the illegally-copied graphics appear to be the SCH-V890 and SPH-V8900, which were released early last month.

Samsung told the Korea Times that it had recalled the phones from Korean retailers, and was providing a software update for people who had already bought one of the handsets.

However, vnunet.com determined that the user manual for the SPH-V8900 still contains at least one graphic that is very similar to Microsoft's MSN Messenger icon.

In recent months, Samsung itself has complained that its mobile phones and other products have been copied by others, particularly in China.

"There were a few mistakes while we were developing the new product," the chief of Samsung's corporate design centre explained to the Korea Times.

"We have already fixed the designs and I believe that the old models are not being sold in the market anymore."