Elon Musk’s X Corp and SpaceXAI Drop Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple

A fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks is parked at charging stations outside the SpaceX launch production facility in Starbase, Texas, the United States, July 20, 2026 [Steve Nesius/Reuters]. Elon Musk’s X Corp and SpaceXAI have officially dropped their antitrust lawsuit against Apple, bringing a sudden halt to a legal battle that accused the iPhone maker of conspiring with OpenAI to exclude rivals from the generative artificial intelligence market.

According to a court filing submitted on Monday, the companies moved to dismiss their claims against Apple. The document offered no explanation for the choice, nor did it clarify whether a settlement had been reached between the parties.

Initially filed in August 2025 within a United States federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, the lawsuit claimed that Apple and OpenAI breached US antitrust regulations. The complaint centered on an agreement that integrated ChatGPT as the exclusive generative AI chatbot within the iPhone operating system.

X and SpaceXAI—the developer behind the Grok chatbot—contended that this arrangement granted ChatGPT direct access to billions of potential user prompts via tools such as Siri, Apple’s Writing Tools, and the iPhone camera. The plaintiffs argued that the partnership restricted rival AI companies from reaching users, thereby hindering competitors' ability to scale.

Furthermore, the lawsuit accused Apple of undermining competing AI chatbots through the App Store by intentionally delaying app reviews and manipulating search rankings. The initial complaint asserted that Apple and OpenAI leveraged their respective strengths in the smartphone and AI sectors to cement mutual market dominance, allegedly violating both the Sherman Antitrust Act and Texas antitrust law.

Although Apple and OpenAI pushed to have the case thrown out last year, US District Judge Mark Pittman denied both motions in November, allowing the litigation to move forward. In response, OpenAI characterized Musk's legal actions as a “campaign of lawfare.” Musk has previously initiated other legal actions against OpenAI, including a separate complaint asserting that the organization strayed from its founding mission to build artificial intelligence for humanity rather than profit, a case that OpenAI successfully defeated in May.

Despite dropping Apple from the litigation, X and SpaceXAI confirmed on Monday that they will maintain their ongoing claims against OpenAI, which stays named as a defendant in the matter. The filing did not specify the motives behind the decision to withdraw claims solely against Apple. OpenAI’s ChatGPT famously became the fastest-growing consumer application in history following its late 2022 debut.