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The DOJ’s case against Apple adds to growing pile of antitrust problems for Cupertino

On home turf, Apple has enjoyed many years of relatively light regulatory scrutiny compared to Big Tech peers. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) opened a monopoly case against Google back in October 2020, for instance. It followed with a second antitrust case at the start of last year, targeting Google’s adtech. While the FTC has been pursuing an antitrust case against Meta over a similar timeframe. And who could forget Microsoft’s Windows era tango with U.S. antitrust enforcers?

Thursday’s DOJ antitrust suit, accusing Apple of being a monopolist in the high-end and U.S. smartphone markets, where the iPhone maker is charged with anti-competitive exclusion in relation to a slew of restrictions it applies to iOS developers and users, shows the company’s honeymoon period with local law enforcers is well and truly over.