In recent weeks, some have suggested that Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone was designed by lawyers specifically to work around Apple's ongoing patent infringement case. When the question was put to Samsung design VP Chang Dong-hoon earlier today, though, he denied any such thing. At the 2012 Seoul Digital Forum, he told reporters that the design of Samsung smartphones have not changed due to Apple's lawsuit. "Our change in smartphone design is part of a five-year plan, not a sudden turn-around," the executive told iNews24 and other publications in attendance, claiming that Samsung has emerged as a market leader in design. He insisted that the curved shape of the Galaxy S III in particular had undergone hundreds of iterations, a rhetoric we've heard before: For Samsung's design team, Apple's allegations are personal.

Hyunhu Jang contributed to this report.