Apple/Samsung dispute not yet made it to China: Xinhua

An Apple IPhone 4s and Samsung Galaxy S are seen in this illustration photo in Berlin August 27, 2012.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A patent dispute between Apple and Samsung Electronics has yet to make it to China, with no applications for a probe being made by either company in the country, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

Chong Quan, the commerce ministry's deputy international trade representative, told Xinhua the ministry "had not yet received any probe applications from Apple or Samsung to investigate products involved in an alleged patent infringement case in China. The impact of the patent fight on Chinese phone makers and consumers has yet to be evaluated".

The report gave no other details.

Apple, whose second-largest market is China, scored a legal victory over Samsung last week when a U.S. jury found the South Korean company had copied critical features of the iPad and iPhone and awarded the U.S. group $1.05 billion damages.

Chine company ZTE Corp, the world's fourth-biggest mobile phone vendor, said this week it was unfazed by the possibility of being sued by Apple over patent violations.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Dan Lalor)