The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today launched investigations into Apple and Google’s dominance in the iOS and Android ecosystems, respectively.
These individual investigations will seek to determine whether Apple and Google can be classified as strategic market status (SMS) under the U.K.’s digital markets competition regime.
SMS is a label for corporate giants generating £1 billion (about $1.78 billion CAD) in revenue in the U.K. — or over £25 billion (about $44.40 billion CAD) globally — that occupy a position of strategic significance and possess exploitable market power in any digital activity. Once the CMA designates a company with SMS, it can prescribe conduct requirements and interventions to promote competition.
The CMA’s probes into Apple and Google will be wide-ranging, examining the iOS and Android platforms to decide whether the two companies’s control over their ecosystems is anti-competitive. Its investigations into the two tech giants will “assess in parallel these firms’ position in their respective ‘mobile ecosystems’ which include the operating systems, app stores and browsers that operate on mobile devices,” the CMA said in a press release.
“The investigations will explore the impact on people who use mobile devices and the thousands of businesses developing innovative services or content such as apps for these devices.”
According to the press release, the CMA will evaluate competition within and between the iOS and Android ecosystems. The regulator wants to ascertain whether Apple and Google are using their market power to favour their own apps and services over third-party alternatives, and if they are exploiting app developers with unfair terms and conditions for app distribution.
If found to be engaging in anticompetitive behaviour, both Apple and Google could be forced to open up their ecosystems to competition. This could include giving third-party apps access to key device functionality, allowing alternatives for payment processing, and entire third-party app stores, per the CMA.
“More competitive mobile ecosystems could foster new innovations and new opportunities across a range of services that millions of people use, be they app stores, browsers or operating systems,” said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell. The competition watchdog promised a decision in both investigations by the end of October 2025.
Both Apple and Google have faced mounting regulatory pressure in Europe in recent years. They have been racked by numerous probes and lawsuits, alongside hefty fines. The EU even forced Apple to finally drop the proprietary Lightning port on its devices for USB-C, not to mention open up the iOS ecosystem in Europe to sideloading, third-party app stores, alternative payment processors, and more.
Apple is currently also facing a £1.5 billion (about $2.2 billion CAD) class action lawsuit in the U.K. over its 30% commission on purchases made through the App Store.
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