The Biden administration sued Apple over purported iPhone "monopoly power"
U.S. Department of Justice filed groundbreaking case against Apple on Thursday, accusing it of smartphone monopoly.
In the civil claim, 15 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia accuse Apple of confining its smartphone operating system, which raises consumer prices and hinders developers from releasing products on other platforms.
“Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate the antitrust laws,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release.
Garland claimed Apple had performed "not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse."
Apple refuted the claims and accused the authorities of overreach.
“At Apple, we innovate every day to make technology people love —designing products that work seamlessly together, protect people’s privacy and security, and create a magical experience for our users," it said. "This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets. If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple — where hardware, software, and services intersect. It would also set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology. We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.”
President Joe Biden's Big Tech antitrust crackdown includes the case. The FTC has a long-running anti-monopoly action against Facebook parent Meta and a recent one against Amazon, while the U.S. Justice Department is suing Google for monopolizing digital advertising services. The FTC tried to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision in December.
“This clearly escalates the Biden Administration antitrust efforts against Big Tech giants and adds to the current ongoing antitrust case against Google and other various cases against Meta and Amazon,” Dan Ives, a managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in an investor note.