Chip supplies are not affected

Also posted as a story comment on Slashdot.

An LG spokesperson clarified, that the court situation does not affect supplies of Qualcomm chips to LG. Source.

Therefore, the 'concerns about rollout' is speculation (IMO) by an analyst whose assertion got a signal boost from Reuters.

Any possible delay — which is just a rumour — could be attributed to a thorough testing of hardware and software.

Judge Lucy Koh ruled, that Qualcomm has had onerous prices for use of its patents, and that Qualcomm should 'sign new patent licensing deals without Qualcomm's offending terms,' which is what LG wants.

But Qualcomm apparently wants the antitrust decision to not be enforced and to be set aside in licensing negotiations with LG (and possibly others) as one of the delay tactics in legal proceedings so as to demand the fulfilment of Qualcomm's previous and onerous terms on pricing. If LG caves, the ruling by the honourable Judge Koh will be pointless.

This would simply mean more expensive phones.

For LG, that would mean releasing kit with a bigger sticker price, which isn't exactly enticing to consumers, and, of course, LG either.

LG would still have a good position, because the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, who originated the case, also asked the court to deny Qualcomm's request for stay.

The pricing and antitrust issues notwithstanding, the LG mobile business has a decent opening with the ongoing brouhahae surrounding Huawei.

It should be noted, that like Samsung, LG is a Very Large(tm) company in South Korea, with 222,000 employees in 2012, and $147.2 billion in revenue plus a $2.4 billion profit for the year 2018.

It is strange, though, that LG terminated their previous patent licensing deal with Qualcomm instead of renegotiating that deal, or negotiating a new deal while the previous deal was still in effect. Currently, both have an interim deal.

There was a similar case with Apple suing Qualcomm over prices, and plenty of people whined, as if Apple and its consumers weren't rich enough to pay up.

Apple and Qualcomm settled, with 'Apple paying $4.5 billion to settle a case and obtain a license for 5G modem technology.' That settlement will stand, even if Qualcomm's request to stay is denied. Very suddenly, Intel announced that it was shutting down its modem business and the relevant research and development, while a rumour surfaced, that Apple wants to buy just that, and Intel is looking for a buyer (story at URL above).

The Apple and Intel story is interesting, but at this point, I do not know if regulators in the European Union will approve the sale, as the modem business is in Germany, and is based on Infineon, which was purchased by Intel. Apple would certainly be poised to have and develop competing modems, as some of the former Infineon employees are already at Apple.

Regulators should watch the movements closely. See, when Apple purchased AuthenTec, a company with the best fingerprint sensor in the market, then the other phone makers could no longer use it. As much was implied by Mr. Dennis Woodside, then-the-CEO of Motorola, who told The Telegraph, that Motorola and the others were left with the 'second-best supplier in the market, who weren't there yet.'