The regulatory backlash against the growing dominance of big tech has now firmly arrived on UK shores with new the country’s competition watchdog has initiated an investigation into Apple and Google. The Competition & Markets Authority is looking into whether the “effective duopoly” the two American tech giants hold over the mobile operating system market is stifling competition or to the unfair detriment of consumers or other businesses, like mobile app developers.

Between them, Google’s Android mobile operating system (48.13%) and Apple’s iOS (, which all iPhones run on, account for all but a tiny fraction (less than 1%) of the market. The watchdog is concerned about the control that gives Google and Apple over the “gateways” consumers use to access mobile device-based products and services from music and video streaming, ecommerce, online banking, fitness trackers and other applications.

Market share held by mobile operating systems in the United Kingdom (UK) from January 2018 to January 2021

Source: Statista

Specifically, the watchdog will look at whether the duopoly leads to consumers paying higher prices because there is little competition. Both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play store for mobile apps charge app owners a fixed 30% on lifetime income generated by apps downloaded from them.

The watchdog already has an ongoing investigation into if the terms and conditions offered by Apple’s App Store are fair to mobile app development companies. It’s also looking a Google proposal to block third-party cookies from its popular Chrome browser by 2022. While positioned as a defence of users’ private data, critics say the real reason is that the move will strengthen Google’s own grip on that personal information, which can be exploited for commercial purposes like ad targeting.

However, the new investigation will specifically look at Google and Apple’s positions as de-facto “gatekeepers” to the internet for over half the global population. Over a billion people use Apple devices running on iOS and over 3 billion use smartphones that license the Android OS from Google.

Google doesn’t charge for the use of Android but smartphone makers do have to agree to conditions such as pre-installing Google’s Chrome browser and other Google products like Google Maps on all devices. Both Android and iOS are also used in devices like smart watches, smart speakers and personal assistants and even home security devices.

The investigation looks like it will be wide ranging with the wording referring to an examination of the tech giants’ ‘ecosystems’ rather than one specific element such as smartphone makers that are not Apple having little choice to installing Android on devices. It is believed priorities will be to assess if the dominance of the two hampers innovation, leads to higher end prices for consumers and the relationship between Google, Apple and mobile app developers.

Internationally, regulators are stepping up their focus on the dominant players in the internet economy. The EC charged Apple with harming the competitive landscape in music streaming in April following a complaint by Spotify, a music streaming app. Fortnite developer Epic Games also recently took Apple to court after it was kicked out of the App Store as a response to trying to get around its obligation to pay the iPhone maker 30% of any revenues generated by games downloaded onto Apple devices.

France recently slapped Google with a €220 million fine in a settlement over alleged abuses of its dominant position in online marketing. Google didn’t dispute the allegations made against it and instead chose to pay a settlement and make changes to how it operates two ad selling platforms.

Apple declined to comment on the opening of the UK regulator’s investigation but a Google spokeswoman said:

“Android provides people with more choice than any other mobile platform in deciding which apps they use and enables thousands of developers and manufacturers to build successful businesses. We welcome the CMA’s efforts to understand the details and differences between platforms before designing new rules.”