Size does not meet regulatory threshold: Apple Maps / Ads services exempt from EU "core platform" designation

IT House, February 6 — The European Commission announced yesterday (February 5) that Apple’s “Apple Ads” and “Apple Maps” services do not qualify as “core platform services” (Gateways) under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The European Commission stated in the announcement that, according to the DMA’s definition, a platform is only considered a “critical gateway” when it becomes an important portal for business users to reach end users.

IT House cited a blog post explaining that after reviewing in late November 2025, the Commission accepted Apple’s defense: data shows that Apple Maps has relatively low overall usage in the EU, making it difficult to compete with rivals like Google Maps; at the same time, Apple’s advertising business in the EU online advertising market also has a very limited market share. Therefore, these two services currently do not possess the “gatekeeper” qualities that influence the market.

Although these two specific services “escaped” regulation, Apple as a whole is still classified as a “gatekeeper” under the EU Digital Markets Act.

This means that core services like the App Store and iOS operating system must remain fully compliant, allowing third-party app stores and open payment systems.

It is worth noting that, despite these two services being considered independent and limited in scale from a regulatory perspective, Apple plans to strengthen their connection at the product level. According to MacRumors, Apple plans to start displaying ads directly in the search results of Apple Maps as early as this year. This move indicates that, although currently small in scale, Apple is actively exploring monetization paths for map traffic.