Apple has accused Indian antitrust investigators of “copy-pasting” its rivals’ allegations and failing to conduct their own analysis, arguing that the regulator’s findings against it should be rejected.
In a June 25 submission to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) reviewed by ReutersApple has escalated its long-running dispute with the regulator, where Match and a group of Indian startups are among its opponents. ICC investigators privately concluded in 2024 that Apple had engaged in “abusive behavior” on the App Store and wrongly mandated the use of its own payment system.
Apple has denied the allegations. The company said it was a “tiny player” with less than 6% of the Indian smartphone market and argued that the investigation’s findings were based on the claims of its competitors rather than the independent work of the CCI. He warned that “forced changes to Apple’s carefully designed App Store could disrupt its integrated business model” and that the solutions would “create regulatory uncertainty and could deter investment in India’s digital economy.”
In its submission, Apple provided charts intended to show that the CCI investigation team had simply reproduced documents filed by opponents of the case, including Match, Walmart’s Indian payments app PhonePe and its Indian rival Paytm. “The DG (chief executive officer) has made no effort to independently verify or critically evaluate these statements, often repeating them verbatim,” Apple said.
Apple also claimed that the CCI had “blindly reproduced” a graph on global consumer spending on mobile apps and games taken from a 2024 EU ruling against the company, although India faces different market conditions. In its own case, Google argued that Indian investigators copied parts of a European ruling, but that this had little effect on the final decision, leading to forced changes in Android’s promotion.
Apple also argues that authorities did not give it “a single opportunity to record its statements and provide oral evidence” during the investigation, unlike Google, which it says was given multiple opportunities to defend itself.
The regulator accused Apple of stalling the case for more than two years by refusing to respond and at the same time challenging India’s antitrust law, which allows fines of up to 10% of a company’s revenue over the previous three years. The law allows India to base any sanctions on global rather than local revenue, the basis on which Apple has estimated its potential exposure at $38 billion. Apple is separately contesting in a New Delhi court whether the law, which took effect in 2024, should apply to the entire 2022-2024 period in question.
Apple had refused to provide global financial documents for this period before agreeing to cooperate in early June 2026, ultimately submitting only its local Indian revenue after requesting a “final extension” until June 25, the same day it filed its copy-and-paste accusation.
The dispute comes as India becomes increasingly central to Apple’s business. The country is expected to manufacture 26% of the world’s iPhones in 2026, up from 6% four years ago.
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