Apple Seeks Dismissal of US Smartphone Monopoly Case

Apple wants the dismissal of a case accusing it of illegally dominating the smartphone sector.

The company was set to go to court asking a federal judge to throw out the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust suit, Reuters reported Wednesday (Nov. 20).

The DOJ has accused Apple of preventing competitors from accessing its devices’ software and hardware, thus making it tougher for consumers to switch phones.

“We allege that Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits, but by violating federal antitrust law,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said soon after the suit was filed. “If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.”

Apple has denied that it runs a monopoly, arguing in court this summer that it is not required to provide software developers with any more access to iPhones than they already get.

“The implausibility of the government’s claim that Apple’s conduct has eroded smartphone competition is underscored by the complaint’s implicit recognition that the smartphone market exhibits ongoing innovation and vigorous competition,” Apple’s filing said.

The case is one of several antitrust suits involving Big Tech companies, part of what the Reuters report describes as a “bipartisan trend,” as the case against Apple began during the first Trump administration, but was filed during the Biden presidency.

The past few years have seen a decision against Google, with a court finding that the company holds an online search monopoly. Amazon is dealing with a case involving its policies towards merchants and suppliers, and Meta is being accused of stifling competition.

But as Reuters noted, some claims like the ones at the heart of the Apple suit have not gone the government’s way.

For example, federal Judge James Boasberg last week dismissed a claim by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Meta’s Facebook had restricted third-party app developers’ access to the platform in order to retain its market dominance. However, the judge allowed the commission’s overall case against the social media giant to proceed.

Meanwhile, Apple said last week it plans to “vigorously” defend against a $3.8 billion class action filed by British consumer group Which?, which accuses the company of violating U.K. competition law, using its control of its operating systems to give iCloud services preferential treatment.

Apple countered by saying customers are not required to use iCloud or iCloud Backup to store files, with many using options like backing up to an external storage device or one of several other providers’ cloud storage options.