Apple and Google may need to make major mobile changes under UK pressures

Apple and Google may be forced to overhaul their mobile platforms due to existing regulations potentially "limiting innovation and competition", warns the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA has highlighted that both tech companies hold a significant and entrenched market power.

The authority confirmed that both companies have been granted 'strategic market status' following an investigation into their mobile platforms. This designation could allow the regulator to intervene and foster increased competition, which it believes will benefit consumers and businesses alike. With approximately 90 per cent of UK smartphones operating on Apple or Google systems, the CMA's action could alter how people utilise and pay for apps and services on these devices.

At the start of the year, the CMA was endowed with new powers to tackle entities it deems are monopolising digital markets. It initiated probes into Apple and Google's mobile platforms, encompassing their operating systems, including iOS and Android, app stores, and browsers, reports the Mirror.

Will Hayter, executive director for digital markets at the CMA, said: "Apple and Google's mobile platforms are used by thousands of businesses right across the economy to market and sell products and services to millions of customers, but the platforms' rules may be limiting innovation and competition. Having taken into account the feedback received since our proposed decision, we have today designated Apple and Google's mobile platforms with strategic market status."

Earlier this year, Sarah Cardell, CMA chief executive. said: "Apple and Google's mobile platforms are both critical to the UK economy - playing an important role in all our lives, from banking and shopping to entertainment and education. But our investigation so far has identified opportunities for more innovation and choice."

Apple and Google smartphones enjoy widespread popularity across the UK, though they occupy distinct market positions. Apple's iPhones dominate premium sales and command fierce customer loyalty. They possess substantial market share alongside millions of active users worldwide.

An Apple spokesperson said: "Apple faces fierce competition in every market where we operate, and we work tirelessly to create the best products, services and user experience. The UK's adoption of EU-style rules would undermine that, leaving users with weaker privacy and security, delayed access to new features, and a fragmented, less seamless experience. We've seen the impact of regulation on Apple users in the EU, and we urge the UK not to follow the same path."

Oliver Bethell, senior director for competition at Google said: "Today the CMA designated Google's 'Mobile Platform' (Android, Play, Chrome, Blink) with 'strategic market status'. This decision is disappointing, disproportionate, and unwarranted.

"The UK's new digital markets regime was introduced with the promise of being pro-growth and pro-innovation, with the CMA emphasising that its work would be highly targeted and proportionate. In this context, we simply do not see the rationale for today's designation decision.

"Android and Chrome were built on the idea of creating more choice, not less. Anyone, including our competitors, can customise and build devices with the open-source Android operating system - for free. And while Google Play helps people download apps on their devices, if you don't find the app you're looking for, you can download apps from a rival store or directly from a developer's website - something the majority of Android users actually do, and something other mobile platforms restrict.

"As a result, there are now 24,000 Android phone models from 1,300 phone manufacturers worldwide, facing intense competition from iOS in the UK. More than two thirds of UK Android devices come with a non-Play app store preloaded and users can access 50 times more apps on Android than iOS. Non-Chrome browsers are installed on 70 per cent of UK Android devices. As the CMA has already acknowledged, Google does not use "its position as an operating system or mobile browser engine to favour Chrome".

"The benefits to UK businesses and consumers are clear. Android generates over £9.9 billion in revenue for UK developers, supports over 457,000 UK jobs and gives customers a remarkable level of choice. Indeed, the CMA has itself found that 91 per cent of UK consumers are 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with their Android mobile devices.

"Following the CMA's decision today, our mobile business in the UK faces a set of new - and, as of yet, uncertain - rules. The CMA's next steps will be crucial if the UK's digital markets regime is to meet its promise of being pro-growth and pro-innovation."

Google's Pixel handsets capture a considerably smaller portion of the global marketplace but attract devoted followers amongst particular user groups and maintain a strong footing in specific regions, including the UK, despite their overall reach representing merely a fraction of Apple's dominance.

Google also ranks amongst the most powerful forces in the search engine sector. Both corporations wield considerable control over mobile platforms, app stores, and browsers.

Other major tech platforms include Microsoft, with its Windows operating system, Bing search engine and Office suite; Amazon, with AWS, Appstore and various devices; and Samsung, with its Tizen OS and hardware.

Beyond these giants, numerous other platforms are available, such as open-source operating systems like LineageOS and Ubuntu Touch, as well as a variety of software and service providers like DuckDuckGo for search and OpenStreetMap for mapping services.