Smart sensor technology, specifically the ability to control a smartphone interface, is a not a monopoly of Google-Motorola, a U.S. court said, thereby ensuring that the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6, Nexus 5 and the X-Phone will continue to display such capability.

Apple and Google, the latter represented by Motorola Mobility, have been slugging it out in courts to earn the right of exclusively using a proximity sensor technology that controls specific phone functions through facial recognition.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the patent claim being pursued by Google-Motorola over the phone sensor was invalidated by the U.S. International Trade Commission, upholding an earlier patent win secured by Apple.

On its defence, Apple insisted that the patent in question was actually in widespread use. The ability to trigger its function is no different on earlier phone functions that secure keypad from accidental dialling, for instance, the tech giant argued.

The Google loss means that for now, consumers will enjoy the same features from the handsets that run on two competing platforms, which we know as Android and iOS.

Future makes of the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6, the Nexus 5, the Motorola X-Phone as well as other Android handsets will have to share the disputed technology, which Bloomberg described as "a sensor that prevents the phone from accidentally hanging up or activating an application when close to a person's face."

While Google is likely to opt for an appeal, experts are hoping that the latest episode will prod tech firms to simply concentrate on beating their rivals through market competition instead of resorting to protracted courtroom battles.

In the previous years, analysts had bemoaned Apple's tactic of haling competitors to court like what it did with Samsung, which incurred series of legal setbacks but emerged as the iPhone maker's biggest threat to date.

Now, while Samsung appears en route into a blockbuster release for the Galaxy S4, Apple seems struggling to find the right formula that propelled it as the global smartphone leader with no clear competition in sight.

Come the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6 release dates, it is no longer certain that Apple will the runaway winner notwithstanding its courtroom wins, reports said.