Image: © Nicole Lienemann/Stock.adobe.com
The inquiry group said that the CMA should impose remedial measures if the two companies receive a strategic market status.
The mobile browser market is “not working well for consumers and businesses”, said UK authorities, who point to Apple and Google as the major reasons.
An independent inquiry group leading the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) investigation into mobile browsers and the cloud gaming market published its final report yesterday (12 March).
The final report comes after the inquiry group published its provisional decision last November, which recommended that the CMA investigate Apple and Google for their dominance in the mobile ecosystem.
It found that browser engines and in-app browsing technology – most of which were relating to Apple – restricted competition. This, it said is “holding back innovation” and “limiting growth” in the country.
However, the group held back from providing remedial measures and said that the CMA should consider imposing interventions if the two companies receive “strategic market status”.
Meanwhile, concerns into the cloud gaming sector were dispelled following major changes made by Apple over the course of the investigation.
Mobile browsers provide the primary gateway for consumers to access the internet on their mobile devices – making it a prime location for businesses to reach them. According to the inquiry group, the browsers, as they are now, could limit businesses from reaching consumers, while consumers could be missing out on new features while using mobile browsers.
Apple and Google have a duopoly in mobile device operating systems in the UK, the group found. As of 2023, around 50-60pc of mobile users in the country used Apple’s iOS, while 40-50pc used Google’s Android.
In addition to a having a duopoly in mobile operating systems, 88pc of iOS users also used Apple’s Safari, while 77pc of Android users used Google Chrome in 2024.
Google pays Apple a “significant share” of the search advertising revenue from internet traffic on Safari and Chrome on iOS, the report said. The two companies earn “significant revenue” when Chrome is used on iOS for web searches on Google. This, the group said, reduces their financial incentives to compete.
According to the report, policies implemented by Apple are holding back the development of browsers in iOS. Apple obliges mobile browsers in the UK to use its own browser engine WebKit, which then determines what competing mobile browsers can do on iOS.
While Apple’s own browser Safari has had “greater or earlier access” to key functionalities from iOS and WebKit compared to competing browsers, which the group said impacts competition and innovation. This limits other competing browsers, such as Mozilla or Vivaldi from offering additional privacy or security features.
Moreover, Apple limits in-app browsing, which takes up an increasingly significant position of browsing on mobile devices. The inquiry group has found that the iPhone-maker applies restrictions that limit traffic coming to competing browsers via in-app browsing.
The intervening measures, which would be imposed if the two companies receive the strategic market status, could enhance the ability of other browsers to compete by offering new and innovative features to consumers, as well as allowing them to choose their preferred mobile browser, the group said.
In response, an Apple spokesperson told SiliconRepublic.com that the company has concerns with this report and believes that the “remedies it discusses would undermine privacy, security and the overall user experience”.
“We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA to best address their concerns.
“Apple believes in thriving and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish. We face competition in every segment and jurisdiction where we operate, and our focus is always the trust of our users,” the spokesperson said.
While Margot Daly, the chair of CMA’s independent inquiry group said: “I welcome the CMA’s prompt action to open strategic market status investigations into both Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems.
“The analysis set out in our report and the range of potential interventions considered to address the market issues we have identified merits consideration by the CMA under its new powers, which have been specifically designed for digital markets.”
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Updated, 9:15am, 13 March 2025: This article was updated to include a statement from Apple.
