Apple’s long, bitter App Store antitrust war

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The twelvemonth was 1998, and reigning individual machine elephantine Microsoft was connected proceedings for violating antitrust laws, including by targeting its smaller competitor Apple. Apple occupied only a fraction of the PC market, while Microsoft held northbound of 80 percent. But its cross-platform QuickTime multimedia subordinate threatened Microsoft’s ain offerings, and a tribunal determined that Microsoft had tried to crush it — pushing Apple to wantonness a QuickTime type for Windows and implying it would limit the tool’s distribution options if Apple didn’t backmost off.

Anyone who’s utilized an physics instrumentality lately astir apt knows Apple’s position has shifted. It whitethorn person ne'er unseated Microsoft successful the individual machine market, but it reigns successful the acold bigger class of mobile computing. It makes money astatine virtually each furniture of its ubiquitous iPhone: the phone’s hardware, galore accessories for illustration earbuds and location trackers, first-party package services for illustration Apple Music, and commissions from the developers whose apps populate the App Store. Even the iOS hunt barroom is simply a moneymaker, acknowledgment to a revenue-sharing woody that sets Google Search arsenic the default.

All that power, mixed pinch Apple’s tight power complete its mobile ecosystem, has raised a batch of hackles. Some hardware and package developers opportunity Apple copied and integrated devices they built (a believe known arsenic Sherlocking), past disadvantaged them by locking them retired of definite iOS features that its ain instrumentality could entree — the erstwhile typically isn’t illegal, but the second tin be. Many app makers are captious of the App Store commission, pejoratively known arsenic the “Apple Tax.” Developers and users alike are sometimes disappointment pinch Apple’s deficiency of support for third-party app stores aliases sideloading, which rival telephone shaper Google (albeit pinch its ain anticompetitive restrictions) allows.

Over the past decade successful particular, Apple has joined the increasing number of awesome tech companies facing antitrust action. Chief among its critics is Fortnite shaper Epic Games, which has revenge ineligible complaints successful respective countries, seeking to usage its ain costs strategy and launch a third-party app shop connected iOS. Governments crossed the world — including successful the US, the European Union, Brazil, Korea, and Japan — person besides gotten successful connected the action, seeking to ace unfastened the walls of Apple’s integer garden.

In an manufacture afloat of sprawling multipronged tech empires, the basal antitrust statement against Apple is comparatively simple: it’s go the eventual gatekeeper to billions of people’s superior computing hardware, and it keeps competitors locked retired while levying a dense toll connected the developers it lets through. The specifications are different, but successful immoderate ways, it hits the aforesaid affectional notes arsenic the aged lawsuit against Microsoft — they’re some stories astir a institution limiting what you tin do pinch your individual device.

Navigating the ineligible implications of iOS’ design, though, has proven complicated. Actually changing it is proving moreover tougher.

Regulators and courts astir the world person ordered changes astatine Apple, peculiarly astir the App Store — but those changes person been slow to arrive, successful portion because for a half-decade aliases more, Apple has dragged its feet astatine each turn.

One of Apple’s highest-profile antitrust battles was the US suit brought by Epic successful 2020. Epic asked a judge to make Apple unfastened up iOS to third-party app stores and alternate in-app costs methods. Apple mostly prevailed — successful a 2021 ruling, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers mostly accepted its statement that iOS’ walled-garden creation provided existent information benefits and wasn’t unfairly anticompetitive.

But the institution has spent years fighting complete a comparatively mini loss: an bid to fto developers adhd links aliases buttons to extracurricular web-based costs systems. Courts person wished that Apple deliberately grounded to comply pinch the order, including by adding a “prohibitive” interest to usage it. (This wasn’t the first clip it had tacked connected this benignant of fee, either — it failed to comply pinch Dutch regulators’ demands to let third-party payments for making love apps successful 2022, racking up tens of millions of dollars successful fines.)

Apple besides avoided becoming collateral harm successful a different antitrust suit, US v. Google. That lawsuit recovered that Google had monopolized the hunt marketplace done methods for illustration its hunt woody pinch Apple. But a judge declined to prohibition specified deals aft Apple testified it could importantly harm its business.

In different countries, Apple has faced harsher demands — astir prominently successful the EU, whose Digital Markets Act (DMA) was designed specifically to create title successful the tech world. Under regulatory unit successful 2024, Apple started allowing third-party app stores connected iOS successful the EU. But it did truthful pinch a number of restrictions and further interest structures that discouraged developers from switching over. A twelvemonth later, it became 1 of the first companies (alongside Meta) to look fines for violating the DMA, pinch the EU citing “overly strict” requirements and the caller fees. Beyond the App Store, Apple has also avoided bringing some instrumentality features to the EU, including Live Translation for AirPods and iPhone Mirroring; it’s blamed the trouble of supporting these features connected third-party devices per DMA rules.

Despite Apple’s dependable opposition, location person been tangible changes. For complete a decade, it was intolerable to actually bargain ebooks done Amazon’s Kindle iOS app, for lawsuit — but successful mid-2025, Amazon utilized the US tribunal bid to commencement including “Get Book” links. The alternative iOS app shop AltStore has launched successful the EU and Japan, pinch plans to grow to Brazil and different countries; Epic has launched its Epic Games Store connected iOS successful Europe too. While Epic hasn’t released numbers for iOS shop popularity, AltStore said it had “hundreds of thousands of users” arsenic of past October. And successful China, Apple precocious reduced developer fees successful attempts to debar a imaginable investigation.

But for galore people, antitrust action hasn’t massively changed the iPhone experience. A different EU third-party store, Setapp, shut down earlier this year citing “still-evolving and analyzable business terms”; Apple and the EU are sparring astir who’s astatine fault. iOS remains efficaciously 1 of 2 world smartphone platforms, and Apple retains tremendous powerfulness astatine each level of it.

Apple will apt support tangling pinch governments. More countries, for illustration Australia, person pushed pro-competitive regulatory overhauls. In 2024, the US Department of Justice revenge an iOS-related antitrust suit against Apple, and it’s slow moving toward proceedings — though judges tin beryllium leery of ordering drastic remedies moreover if companies are declared monopolies. Meanwhile, Chinese regulators look poised to support pushing for much changes — which could go a pressing rumor for Apple successful the coming year.

The EU and Apple will besides proceed hammering retired what DMA compliance looks for illustration for iOS. Apple initially planned to rotation retired a new interest structure astatine the commencement of 2026, but it’s claimed the EU “refused to fto america instrumentality the very changes that they requested,” failing to respond to a compliance scheme and utilizing “political hold tactics.”

For now, there’s a much immediate, non-regulatory imaginable threat to Apple: the emergence of generative AI. Companies for illustration OpenAI want to build a caller computing pipeline that could bypass the existing strategy of phones and app stores, including by introducing their ain devices. Apple has made comparatively fewer inroads into AI, and it remains dependent connected different companies arsenic it attempts to overhaul Siri pinch it. In theory, that could put it successful the position of an incumbent tech elephantine astir to beryllium undercut by caller exertion — astir the position that ’90s Microsoft recovered itself successful pinch the web.

But Apple has survived different attempts to unseat it, for illustration Mark Zuckerberg’s grounded multibillion-dollar metaverse push. Losing the AI title hasn’t yet put a dent successful telephone sales. Early attempts astatine AI-first telephone alternatives person been lackluster, and nobody’s figured retired what an AI app system looks for illustration yet. So the battles complete Apple’s powerfulness apt won’t extremity immoderate clip soon.