Apple Inc. and Apple Distribution International v European Commission (App Store music streaming anti-steering fine)

BACKGROUND

The European Commission opened its investigation into Apple’s App Store music streaming rules under Article 102 TFEU, focusing on so-called anti-steering provisions that stopped developers like Spotify from telling iOS users, inside their own apps, about cheaper ways to subscribe outside the App Store. On 4 March 2024, the Commission found that Apple had abused a dominant position in the distribution of music streaming apps to iPhone and iPad users and imposed a fine of roughly €1.84B, a figure that included a large lump-sum uplift the Commission said was needed for deterrence given Apple’s size and resources.

Apple and its Irish distribution unit, Apple Distribution International, filed an annulment action at the EU General Court in Luxembourg in May 2024. Apple has argued the Commission got the relevant market definition wrong, wrongly found dominance and abuse, and in any event miscalculated a fine that Apple says is disproportionate, pointing in particular to the size of the deterrence component.

The case has moved slowly through the General Court’s docket. A hearing was at one point set down for 25 and 26 November 2026, and was then moved to 9 and 10 December 2026, according to reporting from MLex in September 2026. No judgment has been issued and the matter remains pending before the General Court, with any eventual ruling likely to be appealable to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The dispute sits alongside the EU’s separate Digital Markets Act obligations for Apple, which independently target anti-steering conduct going forward, so the Article 102 case is mainly about whether the Commission was right to punish Apple’s pre-DMA conduct and whether the size of the fine can stand.