Second CMA probe under new Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act powers scrutinises Google and Apple mobile ecosystems

One week after the initiation of its first investigation into whether Google has strategic market status in relation to its general search and search advertising services under the new digital markets competition regime, the CMA has launched a further two parallel investigations into whether Apple and Google have strategic market status in relation to their mobile ecosystems. If the CMA investigations determine that Apple and/or Google have strategic market status (SMS) in mobile ecosystems, the CMA will then have to decide whether to implement any measures to protect competition.

On 23 January 2025, the CMA announced two further investigations into whether a company has strategic market status in relation to certain digital activities , this time focused on Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems. The CMA will determine whether each of Apple and Google have strategic market status in relation to the provision of certain services in their mobile ecosystems and, if so, whether to impose measures (conduct requirements) to protect competition, consumers and/or businesses.

The announcement of these investigations comes just a week after the CMA announced its first strategic market status investigation (into Google’s general search services – which we wrote about here).  The announcement of three investigations in short order shows the CMA moving quickly to deploy the enhanced powers of review over digital markets it received at the start of 2025.

What is a “mobile ecosystem”?

In these new investigations, the CMA proposes to review Apple and Google’s provision of key services on smartphones and tablets, in particular:

  1. Pre-installed operating systems (Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android);
  2. Native app distribution (including pre-installed apps, Apple’s App Store, and Google’s Play Store); and
  3. Mobile browsers and browser engines (including Apple’s Safari and WebKit, and Google’s Chrome and Blink).

The CMA has said that the ability for these services to act in combination, means they may be considered as a single digital activity for the purposes of their investigations. They refer to this activity as the “Mobile Ecosystems Platform”.

What is the focus of the CMA’s investigations?

The CMA considers mobile ecosystems important to people, businesses and the economy – with around 56 million UK consumers currently having access to a smartphone and around 15,000 businesses in the UK involved in app development (with total UK revenue for app development estimated to be around £28 billion). As part of its efforts to ensure that competition works well, the CMA intends to assess Apple and Google’s position in the UK market and whether either company has strategic significance in their mobile ecosystems, in order to determine whether they hold “strategic market status”.  

The CMA has said that its investigations will explore three broad issues:

  1. Extent of competition between and within ecosystems: whether there is effective competition across Apple and Google’s ecosystems, and if there are any barriers to entry by competitors.
  2. Possible leveraging of market power into other activities: whether Apple and/or Google are able to use their market power in the different mobile ecosystem components to favour their own products and services over those of their competitors.
  3. Potential exploitative conduct: whether Apple and/or Google require app developers to agree to unfair terms as a condition to access to the app stores, and whether the choices presented to consumers on their devices (i.e. the “choice architecture”) makes it difficult for consumers to make active and informed choices about the products or services they use or have set as defaults on their devices.

These investigations will build on the CMA’s prior work, including its 2022 market study into mobile ecosystems, which found that, as a result of holding an effective duopoly in mobile ecosystems, Apple and Google were able to unilaterally determine the ‘rules of the game’ and stifle competitors.

What happens if Apple and/or Google are designated as having strategic market status?

If the CMA concludes that Apple and/or Google hold strategic market status in relation to these specific digital activities, it will be able to impose restrictions or requirements on their conduct. As Apple and Google are being investigated separately, they may be subject to different conduct requirements, depending on the outcome of the investigations.

The CMA has set out a number of potential measures it intends to consider, including potentially requiring Apple and/or Google to:

  1. encourage greater user switching between iOS and Android devices and interoperability with third-party products and services to introduce competitive pressure;
  2. address challenges experienced by alternative app stores in attracting a sufficient user base (and, in the case of Apple, to remove restrictions on allowing alternative app stores including by directly downloading native apps to Apple devices); and
  3. offer developers fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory access to app stores.

What are the next steps in the investigations?

The CMA must publish final decisions on whether Apple and/or Google should be designated as having strategic market status within nine months (22 October 2025). Throughout its investigations, the CMA will directly engage with Apple, Google and key market participants (such as mobile device manufacturers, software and app developers, and user groups) and consult on its provisional views.

Stage 1 of the CMA’s engagement process includes an invitation to comment, which invites initial views from the public by 12 February 2025.

Stage 2, expected to commence in April 2025, will see the CMA preparing for the publication and consultation of its proposed decisions on whether to designate Apple and/or Google with strategic market status and any proposed initial conduct requirements.

Finally, in Stage 3, Apple and Google will have a further opportunity to make representations on the CMA’s proposed decisions.

What can we expect going forwards?

At present, mobile digital services are being closely scrutinised by the CMA, with the CMA also currently undertaking a market investigation into mobile browsers and cloud gaming. In November 2024, the CMA provisionally found competition concerns in the mobile browsers market and the final report from this long-running market investigation is due by mid-March 2025. The findings of this report may well be highly relevant to the outcome of the newly-announced strategic market status investigations. 

A further CMA investigation under the new digital regime is expected to launch in the first half of this year.

Hausfeld is recognised for its groundbreaking abuse of dominance litigation against Big Tech, including Apple and Google. For more information visit our Digital Markets hub.