Apple antitrust case in India advances as Delhi High Court issues split order, keeps $38 billion penalty fight alive

The Delhi High Court told Apple on Saturday to hand over financial data to India's competition regulator while barring the regulator from issuing any final ruling before July 15. The order in the Apple antitrust case in India resolves nothing about whether Apple will ultimately face a penalty. It settles only the immediate procedural standoff, giving Apple's parallel constitutional challenge time to develop before the Competition Commission of India can act.

The distinction matters. The CCI's Director General completed an investigation report in 2024 concluding that Apple abused its dominant position in the iPhone apps market, The Hindu reported this week. That is a regulatory finding, not a final adjudicated order. What has consumed the courts since is a separate question with much larger financial stakes: under what legal framework, and against what revenue base, will any penalty be calculated.

Apple's own court filings put its worst-case exposure at nearly $38 billion. Apple has described that figure as the world's largest antitrust fine it could face, and the CCI has not contested that framing in writing, TNW reported this week. Getting there requires Apple to lose its constitutional challenge, the CCI to apply the maximum available rate, and courts to affirm both. It is a ceiling, not a forecast.

The penalty framework at the center of the fight

India's competition law previously calculated fines against revenue from the specific product or service under investigation within India, a formula that produces modest numbers for conduct affecting a narrow market. The 2024 amendments to the Competition Act replaced that with a global-turnover standard: up to 10% of a company's total worldwide revenue across all products and services, averaged over the prior three financial years, Business Standard reported three days ago. Regulators view global turnover as necessary to ensure penalties remain meaningful for companies that operate across many markets.

Apple went to the Delhi High Court in November last year after the CCI first requested its global revenue statements. In its plea, Apple argued that applying the amended law retrospectively to conduct that predated the amendment was "manifestly arbitrary, irrational and grossly disproportionate" and violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. Apple also contended that the CCI has no jurisdiction over revenue from products sold outside India. That constitutional challenge is unresolved and still running on a parallel track, Business Standard reported.

A significant tactical shift came at the May 15 hearing. The CCI told the court it was now requesting Apple's domestic revenue rather than global figures. That narrows Apple's stated basis for non-compliance: handing over Indian financials does not directly prejudice its pending challenge to the global-turnover rule. Apple's lawyers told the bench they would address even the revised domestic request by affidavit, Business Standard reported, indicating the disclosure dispute is not over.

What Apple is accused of in the Apple CCI investigation India

The case began in late 2021 with a complaint from Together We Fight Society, a Jaipur-based nonprofit, according to ADIF. Match Group, Indian startups, and industry bodies joined later. The core allegation has remained unchanged: Apple requires all iOS developers to route in-app payments through its proprietary system, where commissions run as high as 30%, with no meaningful alternatives available. The CCI's investigation found this arrangement made the App Store an "unavoidable trading partner" for anyone building software for iPhones, Business Standard reported.

Apple's defense rests on its smartphone market position. iPhones hold roughly 9% of the Indian market, up from 4% two years ago, per Counterpoint Research data cited by The Hindu, with Android dominant overall. Apple has maintained it is a small player compared to Google's Android ecosystem.

The CCI's investigation applies a narrower market definition than Apple prefers. The regulator's case turns on who controls app distribution and payment collection on iPhones specifically. In that market, the investigation found, Apple controls the only channel available to iOS developers. Android's broader presence does not change that.

The European Commission reached the same conclusion last year, fining Apple €500 million for comparable anti-steering restrictions in the App Store, TNW reported. India is now the second major jurisdiction whose competition regulator has concluded, on the substance, that Apple's payment system rules constitute an abuse of dominant position. The CCI has not yet issued its final order.

Delhi High Court Apple antitrust case: what the order actually did

The division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was precise. Apple must "fully cooperate" with the CCI and supply the requested financial data. The CCI cannot issue any final order before July 15. The bench declined Apple's request to freeze the investigation entirely, telling the regulator: "Lay your hands off till July 15. Proceed with the matter. They will cooperate but you will not pass a final order," Business Standard reported.

Apple did not get what it asked for. The company had sought a full suspension of the CCI investigation while its constitutional challenge remained pending. TNW put it plainly: Apple received procedural breathing room, not a stay. What the order does is allow Apple's penalty-law challenge to develop further before a final CCI ruling can land.

One immediate consequence is the May 21 hearing date the CCI had set as its final proceeding. The court order's language, blocking any final ruling until at least July 15, effectively renders that date moot. Whether it is officially rescheduled or collapses on its own is among the first procedural questions to be settled this week, TNW noted.

The CCI's lawyer told the bench that a multinational company had been "stalling a regulator's hand in 2026" in a case open since 2021, Business Standard reported. That characterization is now on the court record, and it signals how the regulator intends to push when the parties return in July.

What July 15 will actually settle

Three things will happen on a visible timeline before the next court date. Apple's constitutional challenge to the penalty-calculation amendment will continue moving through the courts. The CCI will proceed with collecting the financial information it has been seeking. And the May 21 hearing date will either be reaffirmed or pushed, TNW reported.

Whether Apple complies with the domestic-revenue disclosure order or contests it by affidavit now carries direct procedural weight. The court has made cooperation mandatory, so further resistance has consequences rather than just adding delay. Separately, if Apple's constitutional challenge to the global-turnover framework receives interim relief before July, the $38 billion ceiling stops being a live number, and the CCI's use in any settlement drops significantly.

The fine gets the headlines. The business consequence that matters more for how Apple actually operates in India is what remedy the CCI ultimately pursues. A financial penalty is one option. Mandatory changes to App Store payment rules, compelling Apple to allow alternative payment systems on iOS, are another. Apple India reported revenue of approximately Rs 79,378 crore in the financial year ending March 2025, up from Rs 67,122 crore the year before, Business Standard reported. India now accounts for roughly a quarter of Apple's global iPhone production, with about 55 million units assembled there in 2025, TNW noted. The country is simultaneously a fast-growing consumer market and a critical manufacturing base, which limits how aggressively Apple can litigate without cost.

The case is also an early test of India's amended penalty regime for large multinationals. If courts uphold the global-turnover framework, every major technology company with significant India operations will face the same exposure calculation. July 15 is the next date likely to shape that timetable. How that question resolves will determine how aggressively India can regulate global tech, well past this particular case.