The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced the results of its independent inquiry group’s assessment of the mobile browser markets, provisionally concluding that they are not working well for UK businesses or millions of smartphone users. 

Among the concerns that have been identified, most relate to Apple’s policies that determine how mobile browsers work on Apple’s devices.

Going further, the CMA suggests that Apple’s policies are holding back innovation for mobile browsers, with rules restricting competitors from being able to deliver new, innovative features that could benefit consumers. 

The competition watchdog reported that other browser providers had highlighted concerns that they were unable to offer a full range of browser features, such as faster webpage loading on iPhones. 

Many smaller UK app developers apparently told the CMA that they would like to use progressive web apps – an alternative way to provide apps to mobile users without downloading through an app store – but that this technology is not able to be fully utilised on iOS devices under current restrictions.

The independent inquiry also provisionally found that a revenue-sharing agreement between Google and Apple significantly reduces their financial incentives to compete in mobile browsers on iOS.

Other issues considered in the report include the way that users are presented with choices about which browser they use, with the CMA’s group finding that Apple and Google can manipulate these choices to make their own browsers the clearest or easiest option.

The latest findings follow the CMA’s Mobile Ecosystems Market Study in 2021, which reported that Apple and Google had an effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems, including operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices, putting the two big tech firms in a position to set the rules on how mobile browsers can work on iOS and Android devices.

As a result, the inquiry group has recommended the CMA prioritises investigating Apple’s and Google’s activities in mobile ecosystems under new digital markets competition rules coming into force next year.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act will give the CMA the ability to designate firms as having Strategic Market Status in relation to a digital activity, and allow the body to impose appropriate interventions. 

“Through our investigation, we have provisionally found that competition between different mobile browsers is not working well and this is holding back innovation in the UK,” said Margot Daly, chair of the CMA’s independent inquiry group.

“The analysis set out in this report and a range of potential interventions considered to address the market issues identified by the group merits consideration by the CMA board under its new powers, which have been specifically designed for digital markets. 

“Under those new powers, the CMA can consider the case for designating firms with strategic market status, taking account of the interplay between the specific markets that are the subject of this market investigation and Apple’s and Google’s wider mobile ecosystems.”

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The investigation also considered the mobile cloud gaming market, with around 175,000 gamers in the UK choosing cloud services that stream games directly to their phone.

The group looked into concerns over how cloud gaming apps are distributed through app stores, with the primary concern being that Apple did not allow cloud gaming apps to be available on the App Store at all. 

However, during the course of the CMA’s investigation, Apple made changes to allow cloud gaming apps to be sold via the App Store, with the regulator concluding that there is now no need for intervention in mobile cloud gaming.

The CMA is inviting comments on its provisional findings by 13 December and expects to make a final decision in March 2025.