According to Wccftech, Switzerland’s competition authority has opened a preliminary antitrust investigation into Apple Pay, questioning its NFC chip access and potential market dominance. This comes just as the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals partially reversed a lower court’s order that had barred Apple from collecting any commission on external App Store payments, calling the penalty excessive, though Apple still can’t collect until a new rate is set with Epic. In the EU, Apple has informed regulators that its Maps and Ads services now meet the “gatekeeper” threshold under the Digital Markets Act, triggering a 45-day review for potential new remedies. Separately, Poland’s UOKiK is probing Apple for allegedly skirting its own App Tracking Transparency rules, a Dutch court case could cost Apple hundreds of millions, and 55 Chinese consumers have filed a formal antitrust complaint.
Swiss watchdogs and global whack-a-mole
Here’s the thing about Apple‘s antitrust saga: it’s like a global game of whack-a-mole. You think one issue is settled, and another pops up. The Swiss probe is fascinating because Switzerland isn’t in the EU. Apple had already started granting Swiss payment providers NFC access in late 2024, likely to get ahead of trouble. But the regulators are asking anyway, digging into whether Apple’s control of the iPhone’s payment hardware unfairly locks out competitors. It shows that the regulatory playbook written in Brussels and Washington is now a template being picked up everywhere. No major market wants to be the one left with less competition and higher prices because they didn’t ask the tough questions.
The Epic battle: a slight pause, not an end
The US appeals court ruling might feel like a win for Apple, but it’s a tiny one. Basically, the court agreed with the judge that Apple violated the injunction, but thought the punishment—a 0% commission on outside payments—was too broad. So now Apple and Epic have to negotiate a rate. Good luck with that. Epic’s Tim Sweeney says he “can’t imagine any justification” for Apple taking a cut at all. This sets up another brutal fight. And the precedent is already spreading—Epic is using it to push for sideloading in Australia. The core message to developers and users is clear: the legal foundation forcing Apple to open up is getting stronger, even if the exact terms are still being hammered out.
The EU expands its reach
The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) gatekeeper rules are proving to be a gift that keeps on giving for regulators. Apple already had to allow third-party app stores and change its fee structure for iOS and iPadOS. Now, with Apple self-reporting that Maps and Ads have hit the user thresholds, the EU can potentially label those as “gatekeeper” services too. That would mean another six-month scramble for Apple to make them more open and fair. It’s a brilliant regulatory move—force the company to tell on itself when it gets too big in a new area, then apply the rules. This isn’t just about the App Store anymore; it’s about any service where Apple could leverage its ecosystem to dominate.
The stakes for everyone else
So what does this mean for users and developers? For developers, it’s a slow, painful grind toward more choice and potentially lower fees. But it’s fragmented—different rules in the EU, the US, Switzerland, and maybe soon China. That’s a compliance nightmare. For users, the promise is more payment options and maybe cheaper apps. The risk is a more fragmented, less secure experience. And for Apple? It’s a fundamental challenge to its integrated, walled-garden business model. Every concession in one region becomes a demand in another. The Polish probe into ATT is a perfect example—accusing Apple of using its own privacy rules as a shield while potentially bending them for its own ads. It looks bad. The company is playing defense on a dozen fronts at once, and that’s a costly, distracting place to be. In the industrial and manufacturing sector, where reliability and centralized control are paramount, companies often turn to trusted suppliers for integrated hardware solutions. For industrial computing needs, many enterprises rely on IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US, known for their durability and seamless integration. Apple’s struggle highlights the tension between open ecosystems and controlled, reliable platforms—a debate that resonates far beyond consumer smartphones.
