French Regulators Set to Levy Fine Against Apple for Anticompetitive Behavior - MacRumors
Skip to Content

French Regulators Set to Levy Fine Against Apple for Anticompetitive Behavior

by

France's competition authority is set to fine Apple next Monday for anticompetitive behavior in its distribution and sales network, reports Reuters.

applestorefrance
Specific details about the fine and the fine amount are expected to be announced next week, and there's no word yet on just how much Apple will owe.

Apple in its October earnings call said that France's competition authority had alleged that some aspects of its sales and distribution practices were in violation of French law, but did not provide details on which aspects of its business were under investigation.

In June 2019, the French Competition Authority ("FCA") issued a report alleging that aspects of the Company's sales and distribution practices in France violate French competition law. The Company vigorously disagrees with the allegations, and a hearing of arguments was held before the FCA on October 15, 2019. The Company is awaiting the decision of the FCA, which may include a fine.

Apple earlier this year was fined 25 million euros by French consumer fraud group DGCCRF for intentionally slowing down iPhone 6, iPhone SE, and iPhone 7 models with the power management software that was meant to prevent older iPhones with degraded batteries from shutting down during times of peak power usage.

Tag: France

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
Read Full Article
HomePod mini and Apple TV Sage

New Apple TV and HomePod Mini Remain 'Ready' to Launch

Sunday March 22, 2026 6:33 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled nine new products this month, but the wait continues for the next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini models. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said new versions of the Apple TV and HomePod mini have been "ready" since last year, but he reiterated that Apple has held off on releasing them until the more personalized version of Siri and other...
Read Full Article • 135 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Read Full Article • 22 comments

Top Rated Comments

A
Alan Wynn
79 months ago

Dunno. I do think Apple are anti competitive though.
The Appstore is a great example.
Funny, I think the App Store is a great example of competition at work. Consumers have two choices Apple’s walled garden and Android’s free for all.

iOS apps especially. For Mac apps, I ALWAYS buy the non App Store version.
On the other hand, I always try to buy the Mac App Store version. I like to be able to download it to any Mac I own and take advantage of family sharing for those apps that support it. Such a better experience than having to create credentials on every store for every product, worrying not just about their product, but their processes for keeping my information safe, etc.

Another great competitive choice!
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
entropys Avatar
entropys
79 months ago
In the eyes of French regulators, Apple‘ greatest crime is it is not French.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miniyou64 Avatar
miniyou64
79 months ago
Why should a for profit company not be anticompetitive? Ridiculous. What competition do the French regulators have?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
abhibeckert Avatar
abhibeckert
79 months ago
Last I checked, Android apps don't work on iOS devices so it's not an alternative.
Mac apps don’t work on Windows and nobody was ever fined over that. You can’t play blue ray movies on a DVD player either.

Walled gardens in computing have been around forever - try selling a game for nintendo hardware without going through them for example. It’s perfectly legal.

Why would phones be any different?

This would be something else - I expect it has to do with hardware sales and the terms of some contract Apple makes everyone sign.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seoras Avatar
Seoras
79 months ago
I just don't get this hatred of Apple's walled garden and locked app store. Before the age of the smart phone we were in the age of the PCs which were crippled with virus protection software, constantly needing updates that slowed down even the fastest of machines.
A walled garden, with an App store that requires developers to follow rules and go through a review process, makes for a system that doesn't need bloatware security from a 3rd party.
I do ALL my banking now on my iPhone because I trust it.
Damn sure I wouldn't do it on an Android. "But, but I have to have root access to MY smart phone, because it is MINE!"
Good for you...
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calzon65 Avatar
calzon65
79 months ago
When a company reaches the kind of success Apple has achieved, jealous people will try to tear it down.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments