Apple Gets Sued due to Illegal Monopoly in Smartphone Market

A legal case has been filed in the US against Apple, the maker of the world-famous iPhone, accusing it of unfairly creating a monopoly in the smartphone market. This case has been filed by the US Department of Justice. Due to this, Apple’s stock fell by more than four percent on Thursday.

The US government has tightened its grip on big tech companies. Earlier, legal cases were also filed against Alphabet, which runs the internet search engine Google, Meta Platforms, which controls the social media site Facebook, and e-commerce company Amazon. Regarding this, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, “Customers should not have to pay higher prices because of companies violating antitrust laws. If this irregularity is not stopped, Apple’s monopoly in the smartphone market will continue to strengthen.”

The Justice Department said that Apple charges $1,599 (about Rs 1,33,200) for an iPhone and earns more profit than other companies in the industry. Apart from this, it charges various business partners from software developers to credit card issuing companies. This increases the prices for customers and Apple Apple’s profit increases. Apple’s market capitalization is approximately $2.7 trillion. The company has denied the allegations leveled by the US government.

Apple is accused of making it difficult to run messaging apps and smartwatches on its smartphones. Its App Store’s policy regarding streaming services for games has harmed its competitors. Apple has also been investigated in Europe, South Korea and Japan for its business practices. Apart from this, rivals like Epic Games have also dragged the company to court. iPhone sales in China, one of Apple’s major markets, fell by 24 percent year-on-year in the first six weeks of this year. The company is facing tough competition from Chinese smartphone makers like Huawei. Apple’s share in China’s smartphone market has declined to 15.7 percent. It has slipped to the fourth position in this market.