Google issued a warning over Android phones stating that smartphones will become more expensive in India because of the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) latest ruling. It is said that the costs might increase for app developers, equipment makers, and eventually consumers. 

Google also mentioned that the new antitrust order to change how the company markets its Android platform might also pose security threats to users besides driving up costs. The magnitude of any change in costs will be more comprehensive as Google powers 97 per cent of smartphones in India. 

This comes after CCI imposed a fine of $161 million on Google in October last year for exploiting its dominant position in Android. The company was also fined for abusing its power through Play Store. 

It had also asked the tech giant to change restrictions imposed on smartphone makers related to pre-installing apps as the tech company licenses its Android system to smartphone makers. 

Experts argued that Google’s imposition of restrictions is anti-competitive, for example, mandatory pre-installation of its apps. On the other hand, the company say that such agreements help keep Android free. 

The issue reached the Indian court when Google India approached the Supreme Court. It challenged the order passed by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). 

As quoted by the news agency Reuters, Google’s filing, which is not public, read: “Tremendous advancement in growth of an ecosystem of device manufacturers, app developers and users is at the verge of coming to a halt because of the remedial directions.” 

“Google will be required to make far-reaching changes to the Android mobile platform which has been in place for the last 14-15 years,” it added. 

During the court hearing on Monday (January 16), CCI’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi alleged that Google is not willing to pay. But in the same case, it had paid a fine in the European court. 

The CCI lawyers said, “Their (Google) grievance that they cannot pay the fine is false as they have in 2017 paid over 4 billion euros in an EU case. The EU court has also considered them as abusing dominant position. Here in India because it’s a third-world country they are not paying.” 

Next, the court will hear the same matter on Wednesday. 

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