Apple Quietly Took Google’s Side in a High-Stakes EU AI Fight With Big Consequences for iPhone Users
Apple, a company that has spent years battling the European Union in court and publicly calling for its landmark tech regulation to be scrapped entirely, just filed an official submission to those same regulators arguing in favor of Google’s position.
The two biggest names in mobile, who compete on basically every front that matters, are now on the same side of a legal argument in Brussels.
Under the Digital Markets Act, the European Commission drafted rules requiring Android to open its platform to competing AI services.
The practical vision is fairly ambitious: a third-party AI assistant could theoretically send your emails, place food orders, or handle photo sharing directly through Android apps.
The goal is to prevent Google from having a built-in advantage simply because its own AI ships natively on its operating system.
Apple made clear it has personal skin in the game. Its own operating systems, covering iPhone, iPad, and Mac, are already subject to similar EU interoperability requirements.
So whatever framework is built around Android today has a decent chance of influencing what regulators expect of Apple tomorrow.
The submission described the draft measures as raising urgent and serious concerns around privacy, security, device integrity, and overall performance.
The most pointed line in Apple’s submission was aimed directly at the Commission’s technical credibility.
Apple essentially accused regulators of overriding engineering decisions that Google’s own specialists spent years refining, based on fewer than three months of review.
Apple also flagged AI specifically as a reason for extra caution, noting that the capabilities and behavior of these systems remain genuinely unpredictable, making forced integration a harder problem than regulators appear to appreciate.
The feedback window closed on May 13, 2026. The Commission has signaled it will review all submissions before finalizing its approach, but the clock is already running.
A decision has to be made by July 27, 2026. Meanwhile, the EU separately concluded earlier this year that the DMA has been broadly successful, which gives Apple’s long-running campaign to have the law repealed very little room to gain traction before that deadline arrives.
