French Court Lowers Antitrust Fine Against Apple Over Third-Party Retailer Pricing

An appeals court in France today lowered a fine levied against Apple by the French Competition Authority due to alleged "anti-competitive behaviour towards its distribution and retail network," according to Reuters. The report claims the fine has been lowered to 372 million euros, down from the original amount of 1.1 billion euros.

Apple Premium Reseller
The antitrust regulator fined Apple in 2020 after finding that it imposed prices on Apple Authorized Resellers in France so that prices were in line with those charged at Apple Stores and on Apple.com. The fine was reduced after the appeals court dropped one of the three main charges related to price-fixing allegations, and significantly lowered the rate applied to calculate the overall fine, according to the report.

The investigation began after a dispute between Apple and one of its leading French wholesalers, which alleged that it went out of business due to Apple's uncompetitive rules. When fined in 2020, Apple said the French Competition Authority's decision was "disheartening" and "discards thirty years of legal precedent."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...

Top Rated Comments

genovelle Avatar
33 months ago

You know...when will governments realize that fining Apple $350 mil is NOTHING. Apple makes over $15 BILLION every 3 months. You fined them nothing and they are zero reasons to change. These laws need to be changed to be a % of yearly earnings. Instead of $350 Mil, it should have been 5% of 2020 profits. Maybe then Apple will take these seriously.
So Apple has rules and offered the contract in place. The Wholesaler decided to agree to those terms but claim apple is being anticompetitive. Truth is. They don’t have to offer their products to wholesalers and won’t if it impacts their bottom line. The problem is Apple is one of the few companies that is structured properly. There is no reason to loose money to do business just to claim market share. That is a common go to market strategy and the reason so few companies make it.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AhRiHmAn Avatar
33 months ago

Why does an American company have to listen to some European country?

If you don’t like iPhones - don’t sell them.
Well isn't it a bit simplistic way of thinking? ?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mystery hill Avatar
33 months ago

Why does an American company have to listen to some European country?

If you don’t like iPhones - don’t sell them.
Because that American company really wants money from Europeans.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
33 months ago

You know...when will governments realize that fining Apple $350 mil is NOTHING. Apple makes over $15 BILLION every 3 months. You fined them nothing and they are zero reasons to change. These laws need to be changed to be a % of yearly earnings. Instead of $350 Mil, it should have been 5% of 2020 profits. Maybe then Apple will take these seriously.
You don't think Apple is entitled to the same fairness?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BaldiMac Avatar
33 months ago

You know...when will governments realize that fining Apple $350 mil is NOTHING. Apple makes over $15 BILLION every 3 months. You fined them nothing and they are zero reasons to change. These laws need to be changed to be a % of yearly earnings. Instead of $350 Mil, it should have been 5% of 2020 profits. Maybe then Apple will take these seriously.

372 million euros is roughly USD$365,635,080.00.

Is it a lot of money? Yes, to us common people. But not for Apple.

Apple had a profit of $19.4 billion last quarter ('https://www.macrumors.com/2022/07/28/apple-3q-2022-results/'). That means Apple's profit was roughly $215,555,555 per day. Apple can pay off this fine in less than 2 days.
I don't think it's reasonable for individual countries to fine Apple based on global profits. You should compare the fine to their French revenue.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnipgnop Avatar
33 months ago
They dropped the price fixing charges. Apple is still appealing the ruling by saying that the FCA knows that the other charges are based on "practices from more than a decade ago that even the (French authority) recognised are no longer in use."
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)