A historic antitrust lawsuit: US DOJ and 16 prosecutors file suit against iPhone maker

This week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) will file a lawsuit against Apple, the iPhone maker, for allegedly violating antitrust laws. Apple is accused of creating obstacles for competitors to access iPhone hardware and software features.

This was reported by UNN, citing L'Agence France-Presse, CNN and the Washington Post.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and 16 state and district attorneys have filed a lawsuit against the iPhone manufacturer, accusing the company of monopolizing the smartphone market.

Details

The U.S. Attorney General's Office has filed sweeping charges against tech company Apple for allegedly illegally monopolizing the iPhone. A complaint has been filed in a federal court in New Jersey.

If left unchecked, Apple will only strengthen its monopoly on smartphones

According to insider information, the US Department of Justice will file a lawsuit against Apple this week for allegedly violating antitrust laws. The agency accuses the iPhone maker of preventing competitors from accessing hardware and software features of smartphones.  

Apple undermines programs, products, and services that would otherwise make users less dependent on the iPhone. Apple is using its monopoly power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, including

What is the essence of claims against Apple

• For example, Apple allows iPhone users to send high-quality photos and videos to each other seamlessly, but multimedia texts to Android phones are slower and more grainy. Late last year, the company relented and agreed to improve the quality standard it uses to interact with Android phones via text messages-but it still stores those messages in green bubbles, creating a kind of class divide, critics say.
• The company also provides its own products with access to certain parts of its hardware that other companies are not allowed to use. This year, European regulations forced Apple to give other companies access to the iPhone's hardware chip for tap-to-pay, allowing the creation of competing digital wallets. But these rules only apply in the European Union.
  
• In addition, Apple maintains a large commission of 30% on most sales through its app store - a common complaint from companies trying to sell subscriptions, arguing that Apple's huge share of the smartphone market forces them to pay what they consider to be an unreasonably high commission.
  

Apple claims that the lawsuit is not based on facts and law.

We believe that this lawsuit is not in accordance with the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it

"This lawsuit represents a threat to who we are and to the principles that define Apple products in highly competitive markets (...) If we were successful, it would impact our ability to develop the technology that people expect from Apple, where hardware, software and services intersect. It would also set a dangerous precedent and allow the government to have a strong hand in shaping technology for people," the company said in a statement sent to Gizmodo (a blog that focuses on topics such as design, science, science fiction and technology - ed).

Recall

Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for integration into future iPhones, potentially enabling text generation, image creation, and other AI capabilities on iOS devices.