The smartphone Galaxy SIII, Samsung's newest flagship mobile handset, could actually hit U.S. stores by next week without the South Korean tech giant lifting a finger to counter Apple's application for an injunction against the product.

According to Agence France Presse (AFP), Apple lawyers have elected to withdraw the iPhone-maker's earlier plea of legally blocking the American debut of the SIII before a San Jose District Court.

The reason? Apple would want the court's presiding judge, Lucy Koh, to go ahead with the scheduled June 21 hearing that would deal with the patent infringement case that the Cupertino, California-based company had previously filed against Samsung.

The two have been locked for more than a year on legal contests around the world in which Apple claims Samsung copied the form and features of its Galaxy product lines of smartphones and tablet computers from the bestselling iPhone and iPad.

Apple has been urging courts in many countries to prevent Samsung from selling its Galaxy mobile devices but its efforts have been largely repulsed and its latest campaign to stop the SIII from ever hitting the lucrative North American market was attached to the existing court case that Ms Koh handles.

But on Monday, the court sent a written notice to the warring parties that it may need to put off the June 21 showdown in order to accommodate the annexed plea that Apple recently filed.

Ms Koh said that apart from the patent war being waged by Apple and Samsung before her court, she also has to deal with a host of other cases, meaning she has to organise her schedule and if Apple insists on the urgency of disallowing the SIII in the United States, then the mother case must be postponed.

"If Apple seeks to file a motion to enjoin sales of the Samsung Galaxy S III, Apple will have to request a new hearing date from the court," the San Jose magistrate was quoted by AFP as saying on her ruling released on Monday.

She also advised that obviously, the court cannot devote much or all of its time to the Apple-Samsung legal spar lest she be labelled "an Apple vs. Samsung judge," AFP wrote.

The Monday ruling, analysts said, should serve as a clear signal for Samsung to go ahead with its intent to release the Galaxy SIII in June in the U.S. market and the smartphone's third coming could happen as early as next week, they added.

Samsung has been largely successful in turning back Apple's attempts to kill its Galaxy gadgets, which to date proved as the most viable rival of iPhone and iPad.

While Apple enjoys a relative advantage over the numerous Samsung gadgets, volume-wise the Asian firm serves as the most serious threat to Apple's dominance.

Analysts view the smartphone and tablet competitions as territories mainly inhabited by Apple and Samsung, with only a few brands coming in between.