Lawsuit Accuses Apple, Amazon Of Colluding To Raise IPhone Prices

CBS San Francisco

November 10, 2022

A lawsuit filed in Washington state on Wednesday alleges that Apple and Amazon have worked together to raise the prices of iPhones and iPads sold on the retail site.

The class-action antitrust lawsuit alleges that Amazon is the largest online retailer of electronics, capturing about 82% of the market and selling Apple products directly while also allowing third-party users to sell new or used devices. The complaint alleges that because Apple and Amazon do not benefit from sales by third-party users, they have been suppressing Apple resellers with a "horizontal agreement that eliminated nearly all Apple resellers on Amazon Marketplace."

According to the lawsuit, just seven authorized Apple resellers now exist on the platform, down from a high of 600. Since the alleged agreement between Apple and Amazon was finalized in 2019, the online retailer has been provided with consistent Apple supplies at a discount of up to 10%. That discount, the lawsuit alleges, is contingent on resellers not being able to sell Apple products on Amazon.

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