Google has hit back hard against the UK competition watchdog’s labelling of its mobile platform with strategic market status (SMS), calling the decision ‘disappointing, disproportionate and unwarranted’.

After a sweeping investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that both Google and main rival Apple wield entrenched power over their respective mobile ecosystems, controlling everything from operating systems to app stores and browsers.

The CMA found that UK mobile users are locked into either Apple or Google’s mobile platform, with little crossover, forcing businesses and developers to cater to the tech giants to reach consumers, meaning the vast majority of content is created and distributed through one of their platforms.

While the CMA stressed that the five-year SMS status isn’t a penalty, and carries no immediate obligations, it opens the door to future interventions that could force Apple and Google to loosen their grip on the country’s mobile ecosystem.

“Apple and Google’s mobile platforms are used by thousands of businesses right across the economy to market and sell products and services to millions of customers, but the platforms’ rules may be limiting innovation and competition,” said Will Hayter, executive director for digital markets at the CMA.

“The app economy generates 1.5% of the UK’s GDP and supports around 400,000 jobs, which is why it’s crucial these markets work well for business so they can invest, innovate and drive the growth this country needs.”

Slamming the decision in a blog post, Google’s senior director for competition, Oliver Bethell, said that the tech giant did not ‘see the rationale’ for the designation.

“Android and Chrome were built on the idea of creating more choice, not less,” wrote Bethell.

“Anyone, including our competitors, can customise and build devices with the open-source Android operating system – for free. 

“And while Google Play helps people download apps on their devices, if you don’t find the app you’re looking for, you can download apps from a rival store or directly from a developer’s website – something the majority of Android users actually do, and something other mobile platforms restrict.”

According to Bethell, there are now 24,000 Android phone models from 1,300 phone manufacturers worldwide, with non-Chrome browsers installed on 70% of UK Android devices. That’s proof, said Google, that the market is anything but closed, arguing that the CMA’s ruling misreads the scale of mobile competition. 

“Following the CMA’s decision today, our mobile business in the UK faces a set of new – and, as of yet, uncertain – rules,” warned Bethell. 

“The CMA’s next steps will be crucial if the UK’s digital markets regime is to meet its promise of being pro-growth and pro-innovation.”

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Apple equally came out against the ruling, with a spokesperson telling the Independent: “Apple faces fierce competition in every market where we operate and we work tirelessly to create the best products, services and user experience.

“The UK’s adoption of EU-style rules would undermine that, leaving users with weaker privacy and security, delayed access to new features, and a fragmented, less seamless experience. We’ve seen the impact of regulation on Apple users in the EU, and we urge the UK not to follow the same path.”

This latest ruling follows the CMA’s decision earlier this month to designate Google with SMS in general search and search advertising services (with more than 90% of searches in the UK taking place on its platform), a decision which the tech giant warned could cost the country early access to its cutting-edge products.