Which? is taking legal action against Apple over alleged violations of UK competition law, with the consumer champion claiming the tech giant has been “forcing” customers to use its iCloud services.

The organisation said it is seeking compensation on behalf of UK consumers for Apple’s “abuse of dominance”. If it wins the lawsuit, more than 40 million Apple users could be entitled to compensation, with potential individual claims of up to £70 per person.

According to Which?, Apple iPhone and iPad iOS users “have had little choice but to use Apple’s own iCloud service”, with Apple being able to overcharge them more than if it had to compete with rival cloud storage services.

Integrated storage service iCloud is built into every Apple device and comes with 5GB of free data to store photos, notes, messages and other data.

Once customers have filled their free 5GB of iCloud storage, they are invited to upgrade for additional storage for an additional fee, with prices currently ranging from 99p to £54.99 for larger amounts of data.

Which? claims that customers are unaware they will need to pay for upgrades when they first start using cloud storage.

The organisation added that users are tied to iCloud because they can’t use a third-party provider to store additional amounts of data. This is because Apple does not allow certain data to be stored elsewhere.

Apple has rejected Which's accusations.

"We reject any suggestion that our iCloud practices are anti-competitive and will vigorously defend against any legal claim otherwise," it said in a statement.

Which? said it is now awaiting approval from the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) for the claim to proceed, with a hearing for the lawsuit to be set in due course.

CAT has recently been involved in several high-profile tech lawsuits, including a case with Google, which was accused of executing a dominant position in the online advertising industry.

Meta has also come under scrutiny for its data privacy practices; and Amazon has faced backlash for its treatment of third-party sellers on its platform.

“We believe Apple customers are owed nearly £3 billion as a result of the tech giant forcing its iCloud services on customers and cutting off competition from rival services,” said Anabel Hoult, Which? chief executive. “By bringing this claim, Which? is showing big corporations like Apple that they cannot rip off UK consumers without facing repercussions.

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