Apple makes India withdraw its antitrust accusations

India's antitrust regulator is backtracking from its accusations against Apple and the App Store because of a legal technicality.

In 2021, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) began its investigation following a company from a group called "Together We Fight Society," regarding App Store fees and rules. In July 2024, the CCI announced that it had concluded that Apple has "significant influence" over digital products and services.

The CCI said this in a 142-page report which referred to how "app developers have no choice but to adhere to Apple's unfair terms." Crucially, however, the full report was not released publicly — but it is the reason Apple was able to get the CCI to withdraw its accusation.

For according to Bloomberg, Apple has claimed that the report contains what it describes as privileged and sensitive information. That is clearly sufficient to mean the report won't be released more widely than other regulators, but reportedly it's more significant than the CCI having to redact some portions.

Apple's complaint about privileged information came during the post-investigation stage where the accused is able to respond ahead of India deciding whether or not to levy fines. India now won't proceed to the fines stage, and reportedly it's possible that it may even have to restart the investigation.

Neither the CCI nor Apple have commented. However during the investigation, Apple also objected by saying that its market share in India is an "insignificant" one, not exceeding 5%.

While the iPhone has far from dominated India's consumer market, the country's manufacturing sector is increasingly responsible for producing the smartphone. Figures from April 2024 say that 14% of all iPhones sold around the world are now manufactured in India.