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The consumer rights group Which? is suing Apple for £3 billion ($3.8 billion), alleging the company unfairly promotes its iCloud service, impacting around 40 million UK customers who could receive £70 each if the lawsuit succeeds.
The claim suggests that Apple breached UK competition laws by giving iCloud preferential treatment, restricting customer choice to Apple’s own storage option. According to Which?, Apple’s practices discourage users from exploring alternative storage providers, leading many to rely on iCloud for storing photos, videos, and other data.
Around 40 million iCloud customers could be entitled to up to £70 in compensation.
Find out if you're one of them 👇https://t.co/FIiq0Zj9ai
— Which? (@WhichUK) November 14, 2024
The group further alleges Apple has overcharged customers by reducing competition, effectively “trapping” them into using iCloud on their devices.
Which? alleges Apple traps users into iCloud by limiting third-party storage options, forcing iOS users to pay once they exceed 5GB. The lack of competition, due to Apple’s market dominance, has led to increased subscription costs, with iCloud prices rising by up to 29% in 2023 for U.K. customers.
Which? says Apple can’t ‘rip off’ customers
Which?’s chief executive, Anabel Hoult, stated: “By bringing this claim, Which? is showing big corporations like Apple that they cannot rip off UK customers without facing repercussions.
“Taking this legal action means we can help consumers to get the redress that they are owned, deter similar behaviour in the future and create a better, more competitive market.”
However, Apple said it rejected the Which? accusations and would “vigorously defend” itself against any legal claim.
An Apple spokesperson told ReadWrite: “Apple believes in providing our customers with choices,” a spokesperson said.
“Our users are not required to use iCloud, and many rely on a wide range of third-party alternatives for data storage. In addition, we work hard to make data transfer as easy as possible – whether it’s to iCloud or another service.
“We reject any suggestion that our iCloud practices are anti-competitive and will vigorously defend against any legal claim otherwise.”
At the moment, Apple doesn’t require customers to use iCloud Backup or iCloud to store files. Nearly 50% of Apple customers reportedly do not need to pay for an iCloud+ subscription.
In a separate lawsuit, ReadWrite reported that the tech giant was potentially facing a massive fine of around $539 million (€500m) from the European Union over alleged breaches of its competition laws.
The issue stems from an antitrust complaint filed by Spotify in 2019, relating to Apple’s anti-competitive App Store functions which hindered third-party music streaming services on its devices.
Featured image: Ideogram
