The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal cleared a £3 billion ($4 billion) class action lawsuit against Apple to proceed to trial. Consumer group Which? initiated the legal action.
The lawsuit accuses Apple of abusing its market dominance by effectively forcing users into its iCloud storage service. It alleges that Apple stifles competition by making it difficult for rival services to integrate with device backups.
The claim represents an estimated 40 million UK iCloud users. These individuals could receive payouts if the lawsuit is successful.
Apple describes the claims as unfounded and maintains that customers have a choice of cloud providers. The company plans to appeal the decision to allow the case to proceed.
A full trial is not expected to begin until October 2028.