Apple Says India's Antitrust Case Against It Is 'Copy-Pasted'

Apple has accused Indian antitrust investigators of "copy-pasting" claims from its rivals and failing to behaviour their ain analysis, arguing the regulator's findings against it should beryllium thrown out.


In a June 25 submission to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) reviewed by Reuters, Apple escalated its long-running quality with the regulator, wherever Match and a radical of Indian startups are among its opponents. The CCI's investigators privately concluded successful 2024 that Apple had engaged successful "abusive conduct" connected the App Store and wrongly mandated the usage of its ain outgo system.

Apple has denied the allegations. The institution said it is simply a "minuscule player" with nether 6% of India's smartphone market, and argued the investigation's conclusions remainder connected rivals' claims alternatively than the CCI's autarkic work. It warned that "forced alterations to Apple's cautiously designed ‌App Store‌ could disrupt its integrated concern model," and that remedies would "create regulatory uncertainty and could deter investments successful India's integer economy."

In its submission, Apple provided tables intended to amusement the CCI's probe squad had simply reproduced filings from opponents successful the case, including Match, Walmart's Indian payments app PhonePe, and Indian rival Paytm. "The DG [Director General] made nary effort whatsoever to independently verify oregon critically measure these statements, often parroting them verbatim," Apple said.

Apple besides claimed the CCI "blindly replicated" a graphic connected worldwide user spending connected mobile apps and games drawn from a 2024 EU ruling against the company, contempt India facing antithetic marketplace conditions. In its ain case, Google argued that Indian investigators had copied parts of a European ruling, but it had small effect connected the last ruling resulting successful forced changes to promotion of Android.

Apple is besides arguing that officials failed to assistance it "a azygous accidental to grounds its statements and supply oral evidence" during the probe, successful opposition to Google, which it says was fixed respective chances to support itself.

The regulator has accused Apple of stalling the lawsuit for much than 2 years by withholding responses and pursuing a parallel situation to India's antitrust punishment law, which allows for fines of up to 10% of a company's turnover implicit the erstwhile 3 years. That instrumentality lets India basal immoderate punishment connected planetary alternatively than section turnover, the ground connected which Apple has estimated its imaginable vulnerability astatine arsenic overmuch arsenic $38 billion. Apple is separately contesting successful a New Delhi tribunal whether the law, which took effect successful 2024, should use to the afloat 2022–2024 play successful question.

Apple had refused to proviso planetary fiscal documents for that play earlier agreeing to cooperate successful aboriginal June 2026, yet submitting lone its section Indian turnover aft requesting a "final extension" that ran to June 25, which was the aforesaid time it filed its copy-pasting accusation.

The quality comes arsenic India grows ever much cardinal to Apple's business. The state is acceptable to marque 26% of the world's iPhones successful 2026, up from 6% 4 years ago.
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