Elon Musk’s xAI could become latest giant to sue Apple over App Store policies and control

Update 12/08/25 – 3:48 pm (IST): Oh boy, this situation just got a whole lot more interesting. Responding to Elon Musk’s allegations about Apple help OpenAI keep ChatGPT on top, Sam Altman said, “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.” And of course, Musk was quick to lock horns, posting a comment saying, “You got 3M views on your bullsh*t post, you liar, far more than I’ve received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!”

Original article published on August 12, 2025, follows:

Just a few hours ago, Elon Musk fired off a string of posts on X stating that xAI will take “immediate legal action” against Apple over what he calls “unequivocal antitrust violations” baked into the App Store. Reuters, Bloomberg, and half the tech press ran the quotes within no time. If Musk follows through, xAI will join Epic, Spotify, Match Group, and a growing list of developers who argue that Apple’s grip on iOS software distribution is less a marketplace and more a toll road with ever-moving cones.

The fight centers on how Apple surfaces AI apps. Musk says ChatGPT and other OpenAI-branded features are “constantly featured” in editorial lists such as “Must Have” and “Essential,” while Grok, which is xAI’s snarky chatbot, barely gets a cameo, despite being in the Top Apps list more often than not.

Musk claims that this is no accident, alleging Apple rigs search results and placement to protect its own eventual AI revenue slice. He hinted the suit will lean on both federal antitrust statutes and California’s Cartwright Act, the same law Epic wielded in its 2020 complaint.

This is not Musk’s first rodeo with Apple. Back in 2022 he complained that the 30 percent “Apple tax” made Twitter Blue pricing look absurd, yet he never filed. The difference now is money and momentum. xAI just closed a $6 billion Series B and is racing OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic for enterprise deals. Owning prime App Store shelf space is suddenly worth billions in recurring revenue, and Apple’s editorial staff — who operate separately from the App Review team — are the de facto gatekeepers. A few years ago, Sensor Tower reported that getting featured can spike daily installs by 800 percent overnight, a bump few ad budgets can match.

Then, Musk once again fired off at Apple last year in June after Apple announced it will be integrating ChatGPT into its system with iOS 18. He warned that he would ban Apple iPhones from his companies if Apple followed through. But as we now know, nothing materialized out of that threat and Apple went ahead with its plans. Despite that, Apple Intelligence was a big fail and is a whole separate conversation.

That said, this App Store spat feels like the tipping point. Grok has been climbing the charts, hitting the top five in productivity apps, yet it’s nowhere in Apple’s editorial picks. Musk argues this isn’t about merit, and instead, it’s favoritism that locks out competition.

Plus, Elon Musk isn’t the first, and I doubt he’ll be the last to call out Apple for issues with the App Store. The company has faced scrutiny for years over its 30% cut on app sales and rules that force developers to use its payment system. Epic Games, the Fortnite maker, sued Apple back in 2020 and scored a partial win earlier this year, forcing changes to how developers can link to outside payments. Spotify has lodged complaints too, pushing the European Union to investigate Apple’s practices under the Digital Markets Act.

Speaking of the EU, regulators there have already forced Apple to allow sideloading and even let users delete the App Store app itself. Brazil followed suit in March, ordering similar changes within 90 days, as we detailed in our coverage of the Brazilian mandate. These global pressures show Apple’s control is eroding, but in the US, things move slower. The Department of Justice has its own ongoing case against Apple, alleging monopoly tactics that stifle innovation.

If xAI pulls the trigger on a lawsuit, it could amplify those arguments. Musk’s team might claim Apple’s editorial choices and algorithms aren’t neutral — they’re tools to prop up partners like OpenAI while sidelining others. That said, multiple outlets point out that this legal threat might turn out to be a nothingburger, and I’m leaning the same way.

As of now, Apple hasn’t responded publicly to Musk’s threats, but the silence might not last. With xAI ramping up and recently making its Grok-4 model free for more users, this could escalate fast. But we’ll just have to wait and see if it leads to any meaningful changes or just more headlines.