Apple’s mobile browser policies and Google deal ‘hold back innovation,’ says UK regulator

An inquiry group set up by UK antitrust authorities has provisionally found that Apple’s policies are “slowing down innovation in the browsers we use to access the web on mobile phones.”

Although the report focuses mainly on Apple, it also highlighted the profit-sharing agreement with Google, noting that the duo “makes more profit” when Google Chrome is used on iOS, which reduces their “competitive financial advantages.”

The announcement comes in the same week that the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the US said Google should split its Chrome browser, after a judge ruled in August that the internet giant amounted to an illegal monopoly on internet search.

Today’s discovery has been a long time in the making. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a market study back in 2021, looking at Apple and Google’s dominance in mobile phones, including practices and policies around their app stores and browsers. The following year, the CMA confirmed that it was launching a formal antitrust investigation into the Android-iOS “duopoly”, which specializes in browsers and cloud gaming, noting at the time that it was concerned that it could limit competition and harm consumers.

Today, the CMA said it would not move forward with the cloud gaming aspect of its investigation, due to changes already made by Apple that “seem to have positive effects on competition in this market,” the report noted.

However, many other complaints remain. The CMA said Apple forces competing mobile browsers in the UK to use Apple’s browser engine, Webkit, which limits what these browsers are capable of and limits their ability to differentiate. In addition, browsers using WebKit have not been given the same level of access and functionality as Apple’s Safari, which “harms competition and innovation.” This also includes restrictions on how third-party apps can use so-called “in-app browsing,” which means accessing the open web within native iOS apps.

“We temporarily found that Apple’s restrictions limit the traffic available to browsers that challenge this type of browsing and limit the extent to which apps can customize their users’ browsing experience, as companies with millions of users like Meta would like to do,” the report notes. “We have temporarily found that this limits competition and choice in terms of options available to app developers to provide in-app browsing.”

An Apple spokesperson said it disagrees with the findings, and any changes could ultimately “undermine users’ privacy and security.” A spokesman said:

“Apple believes in dynamic and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish. We face competition in every segment and location where we operate, and our focus remains the trust of our users. We disagree with the report’s findings regarding Safari, WebKit, and in-app browsing on iOS. We are concerned that the interventions discussed in the report for future consideration under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Act will undermine user privacy and security and hinder our ability to make the kind of technology that sets Apple apart. We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA as their work on this matter continues.”

This is a common practice that Apple has used in other similar complaints it has faced, including a growing case brought by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the US earlier this year, which accused Apple of building its privacy and security procedures to benefit the company. financially.

A Google spokesperson said “the openness of Android has helped expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and applications,” adding that it will “continue to engage constructively with the CMA on these issues in the coming months.”

The long and short of all of this is that nothing is going to change yet. But the inquiry notes that the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which is set to come into force next year, should be used by the CMA to deal with these practices.

Meanwhile, the CMA said it is inviting further comments on its interim findings, and expects to make a final decision by March, 2025.