@Malcolm Weir
The phone they got into before was a 5c, which does not have the secure enclave. This is an SE, which does. The method that was used to break into that other phone may not work on this one.
Not saying there isn't a way to break into this one, maybe there is, but the bar is a lot higher. They have to go through the motions of asking Apple and getting shot down again before they give it up to a third party company to have a whack at.
The FBI would probably prefer all third parties to fail to access it, so they can go to congress and whine about how evil Apple must be forced to give them a backdoor. I'm sure a lot of "tough on crime, clueless on technology" congressmen would be happy to go along with that, and we know the orange snowflake would sign such a bill since he's already spoken out against Apple last time. This fight could be much uglier than the last one if the phone is as secure as Apple intends.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
