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Apple must face the US Department of Justice’s lawsuit accusing the iPhone maker of unlawfully dominating the US smartphone market, a judge ruled on Monday.<\/p>\n
US District Judge Julien Neals in Newark, New Jersey, denied Apple’s<\/a> motion to dismiss the lawsuit accusing the company of using restrictions on third-party app and device developers to keep users from switching to competitors and unlawfully dominate the market.<\/p>\n The decision allows the case to go forward in what could be a years-long fight for Apple against enforcers’ attempt to lower what they say are barriers to competition with Apple’s iPhone<\/a>.<\/p>\n An Apple spokesperson said the company believes the lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and will continue to vigorously fight it in court.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the DOJ declined to comment.<\/p>\n Sales of the world’s most popular smartphone totaled $201 billion (roughly Rs.\u00a017,19,518 crore)\u00a0in 2024. Apple introduced a new budget model iPhone in February with enhanced features priced at $170 more than its predecessor.<\/p>\n The lawsuit filed in March 2024 focuses on Apple’s restrictions and fees on app developers, and technical roadblocks to third-party devices and services — such as smart watches, digital wallets and messaging services — that would compete with its own.<\/p>\n DOJ, along with several states and Washington, DC, says the practices destroy competition and Apple should be blocked from continuing them.<\/p>\n Apple had argued that its limitations on third-party developers’ access to its technology were reasonable, and that forcing it to share technology with competitors would chill innovation.<\/p>\n The case is one of a series of U.S. antitrust cases against Big Tech companies brought during the Biden and first Trump administrations.<\/p>\n Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Amazon.com are facing lawsuits by antitrust enforcers alleging they illegally maintain monopolies, and Alphabet’s is facing two such lawsuits.<\/p>\n