Samsung Sparks Anxiety at Google

Samsung Electronics and Google together have stemmed Apple's dominance in smartphones, but there is new tension in their partnership.

Google executives worry that Samsung has become so big—the South Korean company sells about 40% of the gadgets that use Google's Android software—that it could flex its muscle to renegotiate their arrangement and eat into Google's lucrative mobile-ad business, people familiar with the matter said. Now, as top executives from the world's mobile industry gather in Barcelona, Google is meeting with other companies in hopes that their Android devices can keep Samsung's leverage in check by providing legitimate competition, the people said. The Internet-search company is hoping new Android devices from manufacturers such as HTC and Hewlett-Packard can challenge Samsung, they said.