The Department of Justice (DOJ) and a group of state attorneys general filed an antitrust suit against tech giant Apple on Thursday, alleging the company holds an illegal monopoly on the phone market.
The suit alleges that Apple, through its line-up of phones, computers, watches and more, locked consumers into using Apple phones by being uncooperative with other services instead of lowering prices, forming a monopoly on the industry. The Biden administration, through the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission, has launched a number of antitrust suits, particularly against large tech companies including Google and Microsoft.
“Rather than respond to competitive threats by offering lower smartphone prices to consumers or better monetization for developers, Apple would meet competitive threats by imposing a series of shapeshifting rules and restrictions in its App Store guidelines and developer agreements that would allow Apple to extract higher fees, thwart innovation, offer a less secure or degraded user experience, and throttle competitive alternatives,” the suit alleges.
The DOJ warned that if action was not taken now to stop Apple’s alleged monopoly, it would expand into the automotive, entertainment and financial services sectors, including using exclusionary means to help entrench the iPhone’s dominance, according to the suit.
