On Thursday, Britain announced an investigation into the smartphone operating systems, app stores, and browsers of Apple and Google, utilizing its enhanced regulatory powers to oversee major tech companies.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated its intention to evaluate whether Apple and Google hold "strategic market status" in mobile ecosystems and their impact on users and content/service development businesses.
CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell highlighted that fostering competitive mobile ecosystems could drive innovation and generate opportunities across various services. She emphasized the potential for improved competition to stimulate growth in the UK.
The CMA noted that the dominance of Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems, along with their app stores and browsers, enables significant influence over content, services, and technological advancements.
In response, Apple expressed its commitment to thriving markets and innovation, emphasizing the job creation enabled by its ecosystem in Britain. Google's senior competition director, Oliver Bethell, praised Android's open-source nature for expanding choices, lowering prices, and democratizing smartphone and app access.
The regulator plans to scrutinize the competition between Apple and Google, investigate possible preferential treatment of their own products, and examine whether developers face unfair conditions.
This marks the CMA's second investigation under its expanded powers, with the first focusing on Google's search services. The investigation deadline is set for October 22, 2025.