A report by an independent inquiry group for the UK competition regulator, has concluded the mobile browser market is not working well.

The independent inquiry group leading the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) mobile browsers and cloud gaming market investigation had published its final report on Wednesday.

Last November the CMA’s independent inquiry group had announced it had “carried out an in-depth assessment of the mobile browser markets and had provisionally concluded that they are not working well for UK businesses and millions of phone users.”

Report conclusion

Now the report has officially concluded that a number of markets relating to mobile browsers are not working well for consumers and businesses, which is holding back innovation and could be limiting growth.

Most concerns identified relate to Apple’s policies that determine how mobile browsers work on Apple’s devices.

“Having assessed the feedback to the provisional decision report, published in November 2024, the inquiry group has confirmed its concerns in all but two areas relating to mobile browsers,” the announcement stated.

“Those two areas concern specific aspects of Apple and Google’s choice architecture practices, which were resolved after Apple released a software update in December making changes to how users can switch their default browser, and Google provided new evidence relating to its use of prompts to encourage users to set Chrome as their default browser on Android.”

The group has also maintained its conclusion in relation to cloud gaming that no further action is necessary.

“Following our in-depth investigation, we have concluded 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 our report and the range of potential interventions considered to address the market issues we have identified merits consideration by the CMA under its new powers, which have been specifically designed for digital markets,” said Daly.

“So, I welcome the CMA’s prompt action to open strategic market status investigations into both Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems. The extensive analysis we’ve set out today will help that work as it progresses.”

“We have not found concerns in relation to the cloud gaming sector following significant changes made by Apple over the course of our market investigation, which look to have positive implications for competition in this market,” said Daly.

CMA investigation

It comes after the CMA in January began a formal investigation into the domination of the mobile ecosystems by Apple and Google.

The two investigations – one into Apple and another into Google – are to assess in parallel these firms’ position in their respective ‘mobile ecosystems’ which include the operating systems, app stores and browsers that operate on mobile devices.

The investigations will assess Apple’s and Google’s position in relation to their mobile operating systems, app stores and browsers and whether either firm has SMS (strategic market status) in these areas.

Now the final report recommends that, if Apple and/or Google are designated with SMS, then the CMA should consider imposing appropriate interventions.

These include measures which could enhance the ability of other browsers to compete by offering new, innovative features to consumers, as well as enabling users actively to choose their preferred mobile browser which could drive competition.

Other probes

In prior years the CMA in June 2021 had begun an investigation into the mobile ecosystem of both Apple and Google.

Just before that in March 2021, the CMA had opened its investigation into Apple’s distribution of apps on iOS and iPadOS devices in the UK.

But in August 2024 the CMA closed down that App Store investigation.