Apple hunts Samsung evidence
Apple has expanded its U.S. DOJ antitrust fight into South Korea by seeking documents held by Samsung’s parent, using Hague Convention mechanisms after Samsung America declined to produce the materials (appleinsider.com). The move shows Apple is pursuing international discovery to defend App Store practices, which could produce competitor testimony or internal product data from Samsung that the DOJ will use in its market‑power arguments (appleinsider.com).
Apple is fighting a United States antitrust case at home by asking a court for help getting records from South Korea. The target is Samsung Electronics, after Samsung’s United States arm said it did not control the documents Apple wanted. (macrumors.com) The case itself started on March 21, 2024, when the United States Department of Justice and 16 state and district attorneys general sued Apple in federal court in New Jersey. They said Apple used iPhone rules and technical restrictions to keep users, developers, and rival products locked into its ecosystem. (justice.gov) The government’s complaint is built around switching costs. Its theory is that Apple makes leaving the iPhone expensive in time, money, lost compatibility, or lost convenience, even if a rival phone is cheaper or better for some users. (justice.gov) That is why Samsung matters. Samsung sells the main premium Android phones that compete with the iPhone in the United States, so its internal data could show how often people move between iPhone and Android and what features make that easier or harder. (androidauthority.com) Apple’s new move is not a normal domestic subpoena. Apple is asking for a formal “letter of request” under the 1970 Hague Evidence Convention, which is the treaty countries use when one court wants evidence located in another country. (hcch.net) That treaty works like a court-to-court relay. A judge in one member country sends a request through the convention system, and the other country’s authorities decide how to obtain the evidence under local law. (hcch.net) South Korea is part of that system, and the United States State Department says evidence requests there are handled through the Hague process rather than by lawyers simply showing up and taking discovery the American way. (travel.state.gov) Apple’s filing, as described by multiple reports on April 8 and April 9, 2026, says Samsung America would not produce materials held by the parent company in South Korea. Apple is now trying to reach those records directly through the treaty route. (9to5mac.com) The documents Apple wants reportedly cover smartphones, smartwatches, and app stores. That mix lines up with the government’s claim that Apple’s power comes from tying the iPhone to a wider bundle of devices and services that are harder to leave once a user is inside. (world-today-journal.com, justice.gov) Apple is not asking Samsung for help out of friendship. Apple wants a rival’s internal numbers and product records to argue that competition is real, that users do switch, and that the market is broader than the government says. (macrumors.com, androidauthority.com) The risk for Apple is that the same Samsung material could also help the government. If Samsung’s records show Apple is unusually hard to compete with, or that cross-platform barriers push buyers to stay put, the evidence Apple chased across an ocean could come back pointed at Apple in New Jersey. (justice.gov, appleinsider.com)
