This is according to court papers publicised Wednesday.

The filing, made Tuesday in the California district court in San Jose, was posted online by Florian Mueller, the leading patent law blogger.

In the filing, Apple asked the court to add the new phone to its existing complaint against the Samsung Nexus, which the South Korean company developed in conjunction with Google.

“Apple has been able to obtain the Galaxy S III sold in the United Kingdom and determined that this device clearly infringes on at least two of the Apple patents at issues in the preliminary injunction motion for the exact same reasons as the Galaxy Nexus,” Apple wrote in its filing.

Apple claimed that the new phone, which is yet to go on sale in the US, could cause it “irreparable harm,” citing press reports that carriers had already sold more than 9 million units in pre-orders.