India issues ultimatum to Apple.

Apple is accused of violating antitrust regulations in India. Photo: Reuters .

India's competition authority has issued a final warning to Apple, stating it will continue antitrust proceedings after the American tech giant was accused of deliberately delaying its response for an extended period, hindering the progress of the investigation.

According to a late December 2025 announcement by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Apple had delayed responding to regulatory requests for more than a year. The CCI stated that this prolonged delay in responding was “undermining discipline” and hindering the timely resolution of the case.

Previously, in October 2024, the CCI requested Apple to submit a counter-argument to the investigation's findings, as well as provide financial information commonly used to determine penalties in competition cases. However, Apple has been granted several extensions since then.

"The Committee believes that repeated extensions, despite clear directives, undermine procedural processes and hinder the timely conclusion of proceedings," the CCI stated in its decision.

The agency also stressed that such tolerance cannot continue indefinitely, and warned that it will initiate unilateral procedures if the iPhone manufacturer does not respond by next week.

Notably, while the Delhi High Court was still considering the appeal regarding the penalty ruling, Apple requested a temporary suspension of the entire case while the dispute was being resolved in court. However, the CCI rejected this request.

In a related development, Apple expressed concern that it could face fines of up to $38 billion if India's competition watchdog applies a global revenue calculation method to determine the penalty. Meanwhile, Apple denies the allegations and has appealed the penalty ruling in an Indian court.

A source close to the matter revealed that Apple viewed the CCI's December 2025 announcement as a move to "get ahead" of ongoing court proceedings. According to the source, the company is unlikely to submit a response before the judge considers the case on January 27th.

Since 2022, Match, the company that owns Tinder, along with many other Indian startups, has been pursuing an antitrust battle related to Apple. By 2024, investigators published a report alleging that the iPhone manufacturer engaged in “abusing behavior” in the iOS app market.