Apple was sued for anti-competitive practices surrounding iCloud. According to prosecutors, Apple limits free storage so that users have no choice but to purchase additional storage.

The American law firm Hagens Bergman is preparing a lawsuit against Apple. The lawsuit accuses Apple of establishing a cloud storage monopoly in iOS. Users are unfairly relegated to Apple’s iCloud service and have little to no choice to pay extra for additional storage because the free offering is (too) limited.

The indictment therefore consists of two parts. The first aspect is how Apple forces iCloud on iOS users. To store photos, videos and other files, users can generally choose which storage service they use, but Apple requires its own cloud storage service to back up system and application data. According to the prosecutor, this obligation is completely arbitrary and is not based on technical or safety arguments.

Limited free storage

In addition, iCloud’s free offering is limited. iOS users are entitled to 5GB of storage when purchasing an iPhone. For comparison: Google provides its free users with 15 GB of storage space in Drive, Microsoft also gives 5 GB of free storage space for OneDrive, but this is not linked to your system. Due to limited free storage, users have little to no choice to purchase additional storage just to continue backing up system data.

Prosecutors say the proof of Apple’s anti-competitive practices is in the numbers. iCloud has become one of the most profitable products in the iOS ecosystem for Apple as many users are forced to pay extra for the service. But the cloud storage service is far from the only Apple service under fire: Under pressure from the Digital Markets Act, new policies surrounding the App Store will come into effect this week. However, Apple’s proposed adjustments are anything but popular.