Russia Opens Antitrust Case Against Apple Over iPhone Software Requirements

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has launched an antitrust case against Apple, saying the company failed to fully comply with a regulatory warning that required it to eliminate what the agency describes as discriminatory practices affecting Russian search engines and software on iOS devices.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Ahmad Ali Karim, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

iPhone 17 Pro

The regulator said Apple only partially implemented the required changes after receiving the warning earlier this summer, prompting the formal investigation.

According to the FAS, Apple did not fulfill the requirement to enable the pre-installation of Russia's national messaging platform, Max, and a domestic app store on devices running iOS, including the iPhone and iPad.

The agency said the decision to open the case is consistent with Russia's Competition Protection Law and follows previous enforcement actions against Apple that were upheld by Russian courts.

If the investigation concludes that Apple violated Russian competition law, the company could face an administrative fine under the country's Code of Administrative Offenses.

At the same time, the FAS noted that Apple informed the regulator that, beginning July 27, an updated version of its software allows users to pre-install a Russian search engine.

Regulator Points to Broader Global Scrutiny

The FAS also said competition authorities in several countries, including members of the BRICS group, are reviewing complaints from consumers and app developers alleging discriminatory practices by Apple.

The regulator issued its initial warning in early July after concluding that Apple had failed to meet Russian legal requirements governing the availability of domestic software on iOS devices. Among the applications covered by the rules are the national messaging platform Max and a Russian app marketplace.

Apple was originally given until July 15 to comply. The FAS warned that failure to meet the deadline could result in formal proceedings and fines of up to 4 billion rubles.

Under Russian law, technically complex electronic devices sold in the country must support a Russian search engine-or one from another member state of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)-as the default search option.