India's antitrust regulator may revoke a probe against Apple. The institution previously accused Apple of violating competition law and abusing its dominant position in the Indian market. $Apple (AAPL.US)$ The antitrust regulator in India may revoke an investigation report against apple. The institution had previously accused Apple of violating competition law and abusing its dominant position in the Indian market.

According to insiders, a department of India's Competition Commission (CCI) conducted a preliminary investigation into Apple this year and found that Apple has a significant impact on consumers in providing digital products and services. The focus of the investigation is that Apple is suspected of abusing its dominant position in the application market and forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app purchase system, with a fee of up to 30%.

However, insiders said that the CCI has withdrawn these investigation results because its investigation report contains sensitive and confidential information about Apple, and Apple has protested this issue. Apple complained that its commercial secrets had been leaked to competitors, including Tinder owner Match.

Recently, in a confidential order last week, India's Competition Commission has asked all opponents of Apple in this case to return the investigation report. CCI wrote in the order that "the immediate priority is to keep such information confidential and ensure that there is no unauthorized disclosure".

It is currently unclear whether regulators will seek to restart the investigation, which may require restarting the investigation process.

Increased strict scrutiny

Currently, global technology giants are striving to deal with increasingly strict scrutiny from regulators around the world, who accuse large tech companies including Apple of adopting unfair means to maintain their market dominance.

There are more than 0.69 billion smartphones on the Indian market, but domestic brands only hold a small share, while other foreign brands dominate.

Confidential legal documents show that CCI's first report in the Apple case was drafted in 2022 but was returned for further internal investigation.

Apple denies any wrongdoing and claims to be only a "small player" in India, given that phones using Google's Android system dominate the Indian market.

Counterpoint Research shows that by mid-2024, about 3.5% of India's 0.69 billion smartphones will run Apple's iOS system, while the rest will use Android. However, Counterpoint Research also notes that Apple's domestic smartphone shipments in India have grown fivefold in recent years.

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