Alina Selyukh, writing for NPR:

The FBI’s request for the delay does not immediately end the litigation, only pauses it.

Apple is not claiming any victories yet, and some legal experts also cautioned against jumping to conclusions. But Nate Cardozo, a lawyer at the civil liberties advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation — which supports Apple’s position — says this marks a pivotal point.

“This filing today represents the FBI completely backing down on this particular case,” Cardozo says — but “there may be another case in the future.”

And:

“For Apple, it proves their case that the FBI should be trying harder, rather than asking Apple to undermine its security protections,” says Susan Landau, a longtime cybersecurity expert at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. “For the FBI, it’s certainly an embarrassment to have gone to this effort in court when there was another route — but it also points out the need to develop the expertise, both the technical expertise and organizational expertise.”

And:

“If the government can get into this phone, it just kicks the can down the road a year or two,” says [GWU Law Professor] Kerr. “Apple will presumably correct [any old vulnerabilities], and then in a year or two there will be the next case, and we’ll be where we thought we were yesterday.”