Apple has reported strong quarterly profits, but according to the Open Web Advocacy group, the company's financial success comes at the expense of meaningful browser choice for iPhone users. The advocacy group argues that the company’s ongoing restrictions on iOS browsers limit and restrict competition, playing a negative role when it comes to innovation, despite plenty of regulatory pressure in some regions. The EU has specifically targeted Apple for its anticompetitive practices, but the company has done the bare minimum to comply.
Advocates say Apple’s rules hurt web innovation and keep iPhone users locked into Safari
The Digital Markets Act in the European Union forced Apple to allow third-party browser engines with iOS 17.4, and to be fair, the company has only done enough to push the claims away instead of actually giving users more choice. Outside of the EU, iPhone users are still waiting for non-WebKit based browsers. Even in the EU, Apple's response to the accusations has been grudging and full of hurdles, as developers face new challenges and restrictions. Third-party developers and companies find it very hard to create non-WebKit based browsers, as the process has been made quite complicated.
The advocacy group further alleges that these complications are deliberately set in place with the aim of protecting the App Store revenue stream by keeping web apps less powerful and appealing than native apps. Moreover, there are also implications that no rival will have faster performance and features that supersede Safari. Ultimately, this kills innovation, and the result is too many apps working with the same approach. The EU does not consider this move lawful and states that Apple must allow free competition through third-party browser companies, which would allow them to use their own engines.
Apple has complied to some extent, which has already pushed Google and Mozilla to develop their own versions of web-based browsers that use custom engines instead of WebKit. However, it has been 15 months, according to the Open Web Advocacy, and there are no third-party browsers available that are based on custom web engines. The reason? Apple has tactfully placed legal, technical, practical, and marketing hurdles for developers, which restrict them from offering their own versions.
Apple’s rules and technical restrictions are blocking other browser vendors from successfully offering their own engines to users in the EU. At the recent Digital Markets Act (DMA) workshop, Apple claimed it didn’t know why no browser vendor has ported their engine to iOS over the past 15 months. But the reality is Apple knows exactly what the barriers are, and has chosen not to remove them.
The web advocacy states that Apple has placed these barriers in place to continue benefiting from Safari in monetary terms.
Safari is the highest margin product Apple has ever made, accounts for 14–16% of Apple’s annual operating profit, and brings in $20 billion per year in search engine revenue from Google. For each 1% browser market share that Apple loses for Safari, Apple is set to lose $200 million in revenue per year.
Apple denies these allegations and states that it has complied with the new law and has no information on why third-party browser companies have not offered their share with custom engines. It remains to be seen how the company will move ahead with the decision, but based on the information at hand, it hardly seems likely. What are your views on the matter?
About the author: Ali Salman is a technology reporter for Wccftech mobile section with a specialized focus on Apple and the intellectual property that drives mobile innovation. He has cultivated a unique expertise in analyzing and deconstructing complex technology patents, translating dense legal and technical documents into clear, insightful reports on future products.
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