The same girl appears in ads for the Apple iPhone (left) and Samsung's Galaxy Tab (right).

Samsung Electronics has created a stir among techies with ads that look like a deliberate provocation to Apple. A girl who advertises Apple's iPhone 4S now also appears in an ad for Samsung's Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet PC, which it started advertising at home and abroad last month. In the Samsung ad, the girl is seen using the gadget with her father.

In the Apple ad from last October, the iPhone 4S is used to take pictures of the same girl, which are then edited and transmitted.

Models who have advertised products of certain companies are usually kept out of advertising for rival brands. But IT website Techie said that Samsung deliberately mocks Apple by implying that even Apple's advertising models can be won over to Samsung products.

Apple fans, a particularly committed breed, accuse Samsung of copying not just Apple's designs but even its advertising.

Samsung denies it had any such intention. A spokesman for the firm said the girl was selected in an audition by "an overseas advertising firm" and Samsung had no idea she had advertised Apple

Last year, Samsung also stirred up trouble with an ad showing a queue of customers waiting to buy a new iPhone wowed after seeing someone else use a Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE. A worldwide legal battle between the two companies continues.