The United Kingdom’s competition watchdog has launched an investigation into Apple Inc.’s and Google Inc.’s dominance in mobile ecosystems and whether that market power harms users and other businesses.

The Competition and Markets Authority will be digging into what it describes as the firms’ “effective duopoly” in operating systems, app stores and web browsers. In doing so, the CMA will consider whether the duopoly could result in consumers losing out across a wide range of areas.

The investigation goes further than iOS and Android, the Apple App Store and Google Play and Safari and Chrome. It will dig into how consumers access various products, including content and services such as music, TV and video streaming, fitness tracking, shopping and banking. The CMA will also consider how other technology and devices such as smart speakers, smartwatches, home security and lighting interact with the Apple and Google services.

Given the CMA is the U.K.’s competition watchdog, the main consideration will be whether Apple’s and Google’s control over mobile ecosystems is stifling competition across a range of digital markets. The CMA said it’s concerned that the duopoly reduces innovation across the sector and results in consumers paying higher prices.

“Apple and Google control the major gateways through which people download apps or browse the web on their mobiles – whether they want to shop, play games, stream music or watch TV,” Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said in a statement today. “We’re looking into whether this could be creating problems for consumers and the businesses that want to reach people through their phones.”

The announcement comes days after the Japanese government was reported to have started an antitrust probe into Apple and Google. According to The Japan Times, a government panel consisting of officials, bureaucrats and external experts will evaluate the business dealings of the two companies with Japanese smartphone, smart speaker and personal computer manufacturers.

Accusations of anticompetitive practices against Apple and Google are not new. The European Union announced formal antitrust charges against Apple in April, accusing the company of distorting competition in the multibillion-dollar mobile app industry.

Five bills debuted by a bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers on June 11 are also aimed at reducing anticompetitive behavior among big tech, with Google, Apple, Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. named as targets. The most notable of the bills, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, would prevent companies that operate an e-commerce marketplace from giving products they sell via that marketplace an unfair advantage over items sold by independent merchants.

Photo: Ana Belén Ramón/Flickr