Lawsuit claims Apple, Amazon colluded to raise iPhone, iPad prices

FILE PHOTO: The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are displayed at the Apple Fifth Avenue store, in Manhattan, New York City U.S. September 16, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

(Reuters) - Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc were accused in an antitrust lawsuit on Wednesday of conspiring to drive up iPhone and iPad prices by removing nearly all other resellers of new Apple products from Amazon's website.

The proposed class action in Seattle federal court objected to an agreement that took effect in January 2019, under which Apple gave Amazon discounts of up to 10% on its products, in exchange for Amazon letting just seven of 600 resellers stay on its platform.