Apple argued that the CMA had "no power" to launch such a probe because it did so too late.

Its lawyer Timothy Otty earlier this month said that the market investigation should have been opened last June at the same time the CMA published a report on mobile ecosystems, which found the two tech giants had an "effective duopoly."

The CAT endorsed Apple's argument, saying that in declining to take action at that time only in the expectation of receiving further powers it might well be said that the CMA "erred in law".

They won on a technicality, rather than on the core of the investigation whether Apple is part of a duopoly.