Apple's ecosystem has the reputation of a walled garden. It's often claimed that the company doesn't exactly make it easy for its users to shift to the other dominant mobile platform, Android.
That's essentially the foundation of the US government's 2024 claim that Apple is running a monopoly. Apple obviously doesn't agree, and it wants Samsung to hand over documents that show this isn't the case.
Samsung Korea won't be too thrilled to turn over these documents
The US Department of Justice, and several states, have been pursuing a claim against Apple since 2024. They claim that Apple's control over the iPhone's features and the rules it applies to the App Store and third-party apps is monopolistic behavior.
Apple doesn't agree, rather, it claims that Samsung has some documents that will show the very competitive nature of the smartwatch and smartphone markets. It also claims these documents can show how often users can move between the two platforms.
Based on these documents, Apple hopes to prove that the policies it implements don't constitute a monopoly, rather, leave a gate open for anyone who wishes to leave its walled garden.
It first tried to obtain these documents from Samsung's US entity which refused, saying that only Samsung Korea had access to them. So Apple is now relying on the Hague Evidence Convention that enables courts in the US to request evidence from foreign entities to seek these documents from Samsung Korea.
Even if the request is allowed by courts in the United States, Samsung Korea would have to go through courts in South Korea before it has to turn them over. One can probably guess that they won't be too thrilled to do Apple a solid here and turn over these documents. Any measure that helps iPhone users easily move to Android would work to Samsung's benefit, after all.
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