In the last two years, and due to complaints from Japanese operators, Japanese regulators have been investigating the Cupertino-based company for violating the country's antitrust laws by forcing operators to sell your different iPhone models at low cost, which generated higher rates from the operators.
The Fair Trade Commission affirms that Apple's division in Japan has forced the operators NTT, Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank Group to offer subsidized iPhones, below the cost at which they can currently be purchased in the Apple Stores in Japan, if they wanted to be able to offer Apple terminals in their catalog.
As stated by the Fair Trade Commission:
Forcing operators to offer subsidies (for the iPhone) has prevented operators from offering cheaper monthly rates, as well as preventing other manufacturers from being in the same conditions to offer their terminals in the market.
To compensate for the losses, the operators were forced to enter into contracts with customers from among 2 and 4 years of permanence, with rates much higher than those found in the market, the end users being the main losers, as always happens in this type of trickery that companies do.
This commission has not punished Apple for these practices, since it affirms that it will review the contracts it currently has with the country's telephone operators. Thanks to this practice, Apple has managed to gain half of the market share, which in turn has allowed it to become one of the most profitable markets for the company, since today, Japan has become the third country that generates the most revenue in the App Store after China and the United States.