Apple pushes back on DOJ request for more evidence
Apple says a wider DOJ evidence search would delay its antitrust case by months as lawyers argue over newer records.
Apple and the US Department of Justice are at odds over how far the company’s evidence search should extend in their antitrust case, according to a new court filing reported by MacRumors 1. The dispute centres on whether Apple should provide records created closer to the planned end of the evidence-gathering phase.
The two sides previously agreed to a June 20, 2025 cut-off for Apple’s records. With evidence gathering now scheduled to end in late May 2027, lawyers for the case want Apple to supply documents created up to 30 days before that deadline. They argue that newer material could help establish whether the alleged anti-competitive practices are continuing 1.
Apple is resisting the wider search. The company says extending the time window would delay the case by several months, after it had already reviewed more than 11 million documents and handed over more than two million covering an 18-year period 1.
What the antitrust case alleges
The wider lawsuit was filed by the US Department of Justice in March 2024. It accuses Apple of protecting an alleged smartphone monopoly by restricting competing apps, services and devices. Apple denies the allegations 1. The case therefore remains unresolved: the latest filing concerns the scope and timing of evidence collection, not a final decision on whether Apple broke antitrust law.
The latest request asks the court to recognise that Apple and the Justice Department cannot settle the document dispute themselves. The court will now decide how to move the disagreement forward and whether Apple must provide more recent records 1.
That procedural argument matters because the requested documents could cover events much closer to the eventual end of evidence gathering. Apple’s objection, meanwhile, shows the practical cost of widening a search that has already involved millions of records. Neither position settles the underlying case, but the disagreement could shape how much material reaches the court before the next major stage.
Our opinion
This is the kind of legal development that can look decisive in a headline while being narrower in substance. The filing does not establish that Apple’s alleged conduct continued, nor does Apple’s objection end the Justice Department’s case. It is a fight over the evidence window — and that is still important, because the court’s decision will determine whether more recent company records become part of the case. The sensible read is to treat this as a procedural milestone, not a verdict hiding in plain sight.
For now, the court must decide whether Apple’s evidence search should reach closer to the planned May 2027 end of discovery. The antitrust allegations themselves remain contested, with Apple denying wrongdoing.