Russia’s Antitrust Regulator Opens Case Against Apple for App Preinstallation
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service opened a formal case against Apple over its failure to preinstall the MAX messenger and require RuStore on iPhones and iPads sold in the country. The law took effect in 2021 via a different arrangement, but Russia later expanded mandatory requirements. Apple cited sanctions and partially complied via a Russian search engine in iOS 26.6, while the MAX/RuStore requirements remained unfulfilled. The regulator ordered action by July 15.