The European Commission plans to charge Apple for violating the Digital Markets Act after determining that the iPhone maker is not complying with obligations to allow app developers to “steer” users to offers outside of the App Store without fees, according to the Financial Times, which cites three people familiar with the matter.
It appears that the EU is taking issue with Apple’s Core Technology Fee, but the exact charges that it allegedly plans to bring against Apple are unclear.
Apple could face non-compliance fines of up to 5% of its average daily worldwide revenue, which is currently just over $1 billion, according to the report.
The report said the EU’s findings are preliminary, so Apple may still have time to make any necessary changes on iOS before the charges are formally laid by regulators. In the event the EU moves forward with the charges, they would be formally announced by the European Commission over the “coming weeks,” the report added.
Apple made major changes to the App Store, Apple Pay, Safari, and more on the iPhone in the EU as part of iOS 17.4 earlier this year. Apple now allows alternative app marketplaces, but it still charges a Core Technology Fee. Apple also introduced a default web browser selection screen in Safari, now allows third-party web browsers to use web engines other than its own WebKit engine on the iPhone, and now allows third-party mobile wallet apps to access the iPhone’s NFC chip for contactless payment functionality.
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