This is a good reason for Apple to avoid going further down market. With 43% market share [1] they're unlikely to be considered to have monopoly power by courts

This is a good reason for Apple to avoid going further down market. With 43% market share [1] they're unlikely to be considered to have monopoly power by courts [2]: >Following Alcoa and American Tobacco, courts typically have required a dominant market share before inferring the existence of monopoly power. The Fifth Circuit observed that "monopolization is rarely found when the defendant's share of the relevant market is below 70%."(22) Similarly, the Tenth Circuit noted that to establish "monopoly power, lower courts generally require a minimum market share of between 70% and 80%."(23) Likewise, the Third Circuit stated that "a share significantly larger than 55% has been required to establish prima facie market power"(24) and held that a market share between seventy-five percent and eighty percent of sales is "more than adequate to establish a prima facie case of power."(25) >It is also important to consider the share levels that have been held insufficient to allow courts to conclude that a defendant possesses monopoly power. The Eleventh Circuit held that a "market share at or less than 50% is inadequate as a matter of law to constitute monopoly power."(26) The Seventh Circuit observed that "[f]ifty percent is below any accepted benchmark for inferring monopoly power from market share."(27) A treatise agrees, contending that "it would be rare indeed to find that a firm with half of a market could individually control price over any significant period."(28) When they're capturing over 90% of the profit in the smartphone industry there's no advantage to increasing market share, and some pretty big costs. [1] http://www.macrumors.com/2017/01/11/iphone-31-smartphone-sales/ http://www.macrumors.com/2017/01/11/iphone-31-smartphone-sal... [2] https://www.justice.gov/atr/competition-and-monopoly-single-firm-conduct-under-section-2-sherman-act-chapter-2 https://www.justice.gov/atr/competition-and-monopoly-single-...