Samsung verdict: The fallout for consumers

Apple's $1-billion court victory over Samsung poses a lot of questions for consumers. Will Samsung phones still be available for sale? Will they be more expensive? Will owners of existing phones need to worry?

A federal jury in San Jose, Calif., ruled late Friday that South Korean tech giant Samsung, the world's largest maker of phones, had copied features of the iPhone and the iPad. That included the "bounce-back" behavior when a user scrolls to the end of a page and the ability to zoom in on an image by spreading two fingers.

The jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

For now, here's what the verdict means for consumers:

Can I still buy a Samsung phone or tablet computer?

Yes. The jury didn't prohibit sales of the devices. However, Apple asked a judge Monday to ban U.S. sales of eight Samsung devices. If the judge agrees, that would affect many Samsung devices, but not the most recent ones such as the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note smartphones.

Was Friday's verdict final?

No. Samsung is challenging it and has vowed to take the fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

If Apple still prevails, will this drive Samsung out of the phone business?

That's not likely. The verdict doesn't apply outside the United States and doesn't apply to the latest Samsung devices either.

Will this make Samsung phones more expensive?

Possibly. Samsung may have to pay Apple substantial royalties on each phone. Consumers will likely pay for that somehow, but it may not be noticeable in stores. Phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless already subsidize each smartphone by hundreds of dollars to get retail prices down to $99 or $199.

What does this mean for the Samsung phone I already own?

This doesn't directly affect phones that have already been sold, even if they are the models that the judge decides to ban.

Does this mean Samsung phones will look different in the future?

Possibly. The jury dinged Samsung's flagship Galaxy line for copying the overall look and feel of the iPhone and for using the stock icons with rounded corners that come with Android, the operating system from Google that Samsung uses in the devices in question.

What does this mean for other Android phones?

Most likely, makers of Android phones will take more care to make their phones distinguishable from the iPhone.