Investing.com – Senator Elizabeth Warren on Thursday called for breaking up Apple’s “monopoly” in the smartphone market and said green bubbles in conversations between iPhone and non-iPhone users were ruining relationships.
“It’s time to break up Apple’s (NASDAQ:) monopoly,” Warren said in a post on X, accusing Apple of using “dirty tactics” to maintain a “stranglehold on the smartphone market.”
Warren described a variety of ways, including excluding non-iPhone users from group chats and messages from sports teams, in which Apple exercises its perceived monopoly power. “Green texts on iPhones ruin relationships,” Warren added.
“Non-iPhone users everywhere are being excluded from text messages from group messages, from sports team chats, from birthday chats and from vacation plans chats, they’re being cut out,” Warren said. “Apple has used its smartphone monopoly to lock Americans into services and amass billions of dollars in profits.”
Warren applauded the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Apple, filed last month, in which the Justice Department accused Apple of violating antitrust laws by maintaining monopoly power in the smartphone market. “It’s the right thing to do,” Warren said.
Businesses operating as a monopoly often face a lack of competition in markets where there are no alternatives, but industry data shows that iPhone alternatives exist amid intense competition from rivals including Android smartphones.
As of March 2024, iPhone had a 57% market share in North America and Android had a 43% share, according to the latest data from web analytics service StatCounter.
The Justice Department, however, alleges that Apple uses its App Store to block customers and developers, using the terms and rules it sets for the app store to block apps that are seen as a threat. If successful, the lawsuit could force Appel to reopen its App Store, a key driver of the company’s growth.