The FBI no longer requires the assistance of Apple to break into the San Bernardino iPhone, as the organization today confirmed that they've broken into it without their help.
A filing from government prosecutors to the courts today didn't provide any information on how the FBI managed to break into the iPhone 5c in question, but it did say that they have "successfully accessed the data stored on [San Bernardino killer Syed Rizwan] Farook's iPhone". As such, the FBI has withdrawn the order that compelled Apple to assist with unlocking the iPhone.
This news comes after the FBI stated last week that they may have found a way into the iPhone 5c thanks to the help of an "outside party". That outside party was reportedly Isreali mobile forensics company Cellebrite, which supposedly has a device that can analyze and extract the data from a range of smartphones.
Even if Cellebrite was responsible for breaking into the San Bernardino iPhone, it's still not clear exactly how they managed to do it. The most likely explanation is that there is some sort of exploitable zero-day flaw in the version of iOS running on the iPhone 5c, which gave the FBI a pathway around the lock screen and encryption on the device.
Now that the FBI has managed to break into the iPhone in question, the controversial court battle with Apple that begun in February has come to a close without any dangerous precedents being set. This mightn't have been exactly what the FBI was after, but they've nevertheless been able to access the data they so desperately wanted.