EU Competition Commissioner sees delay in Apple Intelligence rollout as anti-competitive

Apple has decided to delay the rollout of Apple Intelligence in the EU taking the European Commissioner for Competition into consideration.

The EU Commissioner for Competition reportedly sees this decision as an anticompetitive behavior. The decision not to offer the AI features in the EU is a “stunning declaration” of its anticompetitive behavior, said EU Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager.

Apple decided not to offer the feature to EU users to protect their privacy

Just a couple of days ago Apple announced that it won’t launch its self-developed AI features in the EU region. The company reasoned that the interoperability required by the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) could hurt user privacy and security. Now the commission has accused Apple’s App Store of DMA breaches.

Apple’s move to delay Apple Intelligence in Europe is the most “stunning, open declaration that they know 100% that this is another way of disabling competition where they have a stronghold already,” said the EU Competition Commissioner. According to the

The Digital Markets Act requires companies to be open to competition in order to operate in Europe, said EU Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager. Non-compliance means fines of up to 10% of annual revenue. In Apple’s case, it could be over €30 billion. In addition to that, the percentage will increase for repeated infringements.

EU Commissioner for Competition sees the delay in the rollout of Apple Intelligence as anti-competitive

Under the Digital Markets Act, Apple is a “gatekeeper,” meaning it has to make sure it does not stifle competition. iOS 18 comes with Apple Intelligence and some capabilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The AI capabilities are integrated within iOS 18 system apps and voice assistant Siri. The features will roll out in beta later this year.

Reportedly, the EU Commissioner for Competition could mark the lack of interoperability with non-Apple apps as anti-competitive. It’s important to mention that Apple does intend to bring Apple Intelligence to Europe. However, it’s taking a cautious approach with its new technology in that region due to “regulatory uncertainties”. It’s reasonable that Apple will want to ensure it won’t have to compromise on user safety.

The European Commission for Competition is carrying out multiple investigations into the company over possible violations of the DMA. The commission has already accused Apple of violating the law’s anti-steering provisions this week. According to the commission, Apple blocked app developers from freely informing users about alternate payment options outside of the company’s ecosystem.