Apple’s iPhone is being outsold by Samsung's smartphone. | REUTERS Samsung's lobbying grows

SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung is gearing up for battle in both Washington and the marketplace.

Its smartphone is outselling Apple’s iPhone, and the South Korean electronics firm is spending more than ever on Washington lobbying.


The roughly $800,000 Samsung spent in 2012 is the most the company has ever spent on lobbying in Washington, with $480,000 in the fourth quarter alone going to the lobbying firm Akin Gump, listing “IP infringement” among its issues.

Samsung and its subsidiaries spent $370,000 in the first three quarters of 2012, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.

That is not as much as Apple spent — $540,000 in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $1.97 million the whole year. But that amount is down from the $2.2 million Apple spent in 2011, according to CRP’s Open Secrets website.

The ramping up in Washington follows some of the battles unfolding in the smartphone and tablet marketplace. On Friday, Samsung reported strong sales for its smartphones, cellphones and tablets, bringing in about $25 billion in revenue, which is roughly half of its revenue for the fourth quarter. The company saw its quarterly sales up nearly 90 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

The 63.7 million smartphones Samsung shipped in the fourth quarter was a quarterly record for the company, research firm IDC reported Friday. As of the fourth quarter of 2012, the firm had 29 percent of the global market, up from 22.5 percent in the same quarter in 2011.

“When I look at Samsung, it’s the breadth and the depth of their product portfolio that pretty much tells the story,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC. “They have something for the high-end user and the first-time smartphone buyer.”

Samsung’s upswing is in contrast to Apple, which disappointed investors last week with iPhone sales weaker than expected and a reduced forecast for the quarter.

Although Apple shipped more smartphones in the fourth quarter than it did the prior year, it lost ground in global market share. It has nearly 22 percent of the smartphone market, slipping slightly from 23 percent in the same quarter last year, according to IDC. Investors punished the firm, sending the stock down on Friday as part of a two-day decline. That meant Apple’s market capitalization fell behind that of Exxon, which is now the world’s most valuable company, The AP reported.

The maker of the iPhone is not only fighting Samsung in the marketplace but in the political and legal arenas over patents. Last year, Samsung lost a $1 billion jury verdict in a patent case against Apple and faced a Justice Department investigation over its use of standards-essential patents. In December, European antitrust authorities gave Samsung a preliminarily view that the firm’s handling of its standards-essential patents amounted to abuse of its dominant position.

Samsung appears to be striking back on the political front — beefing up on lobbying, ramping up its presence in Silicon Valley and enlisting former President Bill Clinton to join Samsung’s president at the firm’s Consumer Electronics Show keynote earlier this month.

Samsung declined to comment for this story.

Meanwhile, Samsung is also expanding its research and development facilities in Silicon Valley and has hired a new head of innovation, who told MIT’s Technology Review that he uses Apple products at home.

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