The duopoly that Apple and Google hold over mobile phone browsers is causing consumers to lose out and is dampening innovation, regulators say. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Apple is holding back competitors such as Mozilla and Firefox from offering new features because of restrictions built into its platform.

Britain's antitrust regulator said its inquiry group had found the mobile browser market, dominated by Apple and Google, was not working well for consumers and businesses, supporting its decision to launch an investigation into the sector in January.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has determined that the country's mobile browser markets are "not working well for consumers and businesses" and "holding back innovation." Most of the watchdog's ire is directed at Apple for policies such as requiring mobile browsers to use its engine,

If Apple and Google don’t make it easier for users to discover third-party browsers, the companies will not have as much of a competitive need to improve Safari and Chrome.

A U.K. competition authority investigation of Apple and Google's mobile browsers has concluded that the mobile duopoly's policies are "holding back