Garland announces antitrust lawsuit against Apple

At a press conference on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against Apple, alleging that the tech company maintained its dominance in the smartphone market by violating antitrust laws.

Video Transcript

MERRICK GARLAND: Earlier today the Department of Justice, joined by 15 states and the District of Columbia, sued Apple in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey for violating Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Over the last two decades, Apple has become one of the most valuable public companies in the world. Today, its net income exceeds the individual gross domestic product of more than 100 countries. That is in large part due to the success of the iPhone Apple's signature smartphone product.

For over a decade, iPhone sales have made up a majority of Apple's annual revenue. Today, Apple's share of the US performance smartphone market exceeds 70%. And its share of the entire US smartphone market exceeds 65%. Apple charges as much as nearly $1,600 for an iPhone. But as our complaint alleges, Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits but by violating federal antitrust law. Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies break the law.

We allege that Apple has employed a strategy that relies on exclusionary, anticompetitive conduct that hurts both consumers and developers. For consumers, that has meant fewer choices, higher prices and fees, lower-quality smartphones apps and accessories, and less innovation from Apple and its competitors. For developers, that has meant being forced to play by rules that insulate Apple from competition. And as outlined in our complaint, we allege that Apple has consolidated its monopoly power not by making its own products better but by making other products worse.