ELECTRONICS giant Samsung recruited a leading British technology firm today in its battle with Apple for leadership of the smartphone market.

ELECTRONICS giant Samsung recruited a leading British technology firm today in its battle with Apple for leadership of the smartphone market.

Around 300 Cambridge-based staff will join the South Korean firm after it agreed a 310 million US dollar (�198.1 million) deal for the mobile phone handset arm of chip designer CSR.

The deal will give the electronics giant the rights to CSR’s cutting edge technology that allows smartphones and tablet computers to wirelessly connect to the internet, other phones and GPS satellites.

Samsung, which already uses CSR’s chips in some of its phones, will take on the team working on the development of future products.

The deal, set to be finalised by the end of this year, will also strengthen Samsung’s chip selling division, which supplies global smartphone makers including Apple.

Shares in CSR rose more than a third after it announced it will return some 285 million dollars (�182.3 million) to shareholders, while Samsung will buy 34 million US dollars (�21.8 million) of CSR shares to strengthen their relationship.

CSR was founded in 1999 by nine colleagues from Cambridge Consultants and helped pioneer wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and GPS.

Chief executive Joep van Beurden said: “The value achieved for our handset operations reflects the market leadership of our handset connectivity and location technology created through the talent, expertise and dedication of our people.

“I believe that under Samsung’s ownership the handset operations will be in a better position to prosper in the global handset market.”

In recent years, its handset division has faced tougher times as customers such as BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion and Nokia have struggled amid fierce competition from Apple and Samsung.

The Cambridge-based firm, which employs more than 2,500 staff across the globe, has recently announced plans to focus on higher growth technology markets.

These include components for sound systems and GPS devices in car dashboards, low energy bluetooth systems, and sound bars, which project high quality sounds from MP3 players and TVs.