A federal judge on Monday rejected Apple’s request to dismiss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust case against the iPhone maker in an early win for the agency.
U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals denied the effort by the tech giant to throw out the case, which accuses Apple of monopolizing the smartphone market by creating barriers to move outside of its ecosystem.
Apple argued the DOJ failed to properly allege its monopolization claims, while asserting the states that joined the case lack standing.
Neals sided with the government on both issues, finding the DOJ has properly laid out two markets over which Apple has and seeks to maintain monopoly power — the broader smartphone market and a narrower performance smartphone market that excludes lower-end phones. He also found the states have standing to sue.
The judge acknowledged Apple’s argument that Google and Samsung remain “powerful competitors,” not entirely dismissing them but suggesting “these are arguments that are better suited for the summary judgment stage.”
“We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will continue to vigorously fight it in court,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement.
The DOJ declined to comment on the ruling.
The agency initially sued Apple in March 2024 alongside 16 states. The case is the latest in a series of antitrust lawsuits filed by both the Biden and Trump administrations.
The Apple case followed two DOJ lawsuits against Google, in which the government has since secured favorable rulings, as well as two Federal Trade Commission cases against Meta and Amazon.
